Sale of Shares in Cairn India Limited

RNS Number : 0558N

Cairn Energy PLC

25 September 2012

 



For Immediate Release                                                                                   25 September 2012

CAIRN ENERGY PLC ("Cairn")

Sale of Shares in Cairn India Limited

At the General Meeting of the Company held on 17 May 2012, Shareholders authorised the Board to dispose of all or part of Cairn's residual interest in Cairn India.

Cairn announces that, on 24 September 2012, it reached an agreement with Citi to complete an on-market sale of a total of 152,629,500 shares in Cairn India, representing approximately an 8% shareholding in Cairn India.

Following the sale, Cairn retains an approximate 10% shareholding in Cairn India. 

Cash proceeds from the sale are expected to be approximately US$910 million (after transaction costs). The proceeds will be used to fund Cairn's ongoing capital requirements, which include the development of discovered resources in the North Sea as well as Cairn's wider exploration led growth strategy.

The Board is focused on creating shareholder value and continually reviews Cairn's capital structure to ensure the optimal balance of efficiency and flexibility.

 Simon Thomson, Chief Executive, Cairn Energy PLC said:

"Cairn is delighted to have realised further value from its Rajasthan discoveries in India.

In line with our stated strategy these proceeds will be used to deliver exploration led growth and fund the development of discovered resources in the UK and Norwegian North Sea. 

We are now extremely well positioned both financially and operationally to deliver on our existing high quality portfolio of development and exploration projects."

Enquiries:

Analysts/Investors
Simon Thomson, Chief Executive
Jann Brown, Managing Director & CFO
Mike Watts, Deputy Chief Executive
David Nisbet, Corporate Affairs                                                                            Tel: [phone]

Media  
Patrick Handley, David Litterick
Brunswick Group LLP                                                                                         Tel: [phone]

NOTES TO EDITORS

Cairn Energy PLC

Ø Cairn Energy PLC ("Cairn") is an Edinburgh-based oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Ø "Cairn" where referred to in this release means Cairn Energy PLC and/or its subsidiaries as appropriate.

Ø The current issued share capital of Cairn is 602,417,020.

Ø Cairn currently holds approximately 10% of the issued share capital of Cairn India Limited (CIL).  Production from CIL's Rajasthan operations is 175,000 bopd.

Ø Cairn (including Capricorn) is run from Edinburgh with operational offices in London, Nuuk, Madrid, Stavanger and Kathmandu.

Cairn in Greenland

Ø Cairn through its subsidiary, Capricorn, operates 11 blocks offshore Greenland.

Ø A total of 14 exploration wells have been drilled offshore Greenland to date, five of which were drilled in the 1970s, one in 2000, three in 2010 by Cairn Energy and five by Cairn Energy in 2011.

Cairn in North West Europe

Ø Cairn has non-operated and operated exploration, appraisal and development assets in the UK and Norwegian North Sea with employees based in Stavanger (Norway) and London (UK).

Cairn in the Mediterranean area

Ø Cairn is in the early stages of carrying out frontier exploration in Spain and expects to participate in the offshore Lebanon bid round later this year.

Ø Cairn is participating along with consortium partners in the current bid round offshore Cyprus.

Ø Cairn has exploration interests in Morocco with drilling targeted for Q4 2013.

For further information on Cairn please see: www.cairnenergy.com

 

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