The Norwegian company Petrolia Invest AS issued a stock exchange notice
yesterday with an "offer" to exchange one-third of the DNO International ASA
("DNO") shares for an unspecified number of shares in Petrolia ASA or,
alternatively, the DNO shareholders are requested to confirm that they are
"interested in committing to support" Petrolia's initiative to launch a
transaction involving DNO. Petrolia Invest AS is a subsidiary of Petrolia ASA, a
company controlled by DNO's former chairman Berge Gerdt Larsen.
DNO's understanding of the "offer" is that Petrolia would like DNO shareholders
to transfer control of their DNO shares to Petrolia to support an unspecified
transaction involving DNO, without any indication of how and when this will be
achieved. The proposal therefore seems to be based on the assumption that some
DNO shareholders have absolute confidence and trust in Petrolia and its
chairman. In addition to outlining the so-called "offer", the notice from
Petrolia includes reference to internal processes conducted by the board and
management of DNO in the period where Mr. Larsen was DNO's chairman.
The board of directors of DNO has discussed the offer from Petrolia Invest AS.
"We fail to see how the offer can be taken seriously. The Petrolia shares
offered in exchange for the DNO shares are almost worthless and illiquid and
Petrolia has not given any indication of the relative value of the DNO shares
and the Petrolia shares, the implications of being locked in as a minority
shareholder in Petrolia for an unspecified period of time or how Petrolia will
be able to maximize the value of DNO by controlling up to one-third of the DNO
shares", says DNO's chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani.
"Petrolia once again clearly is misusing information and misleading the market.
DNO will notify the Oslo Stock Exchange and the Norwegian FSA (Finanstilsynet)
and request an investigation of Petrolia and related companies and individuals
for market manipulation and breach of conduct of business rules. Their conduct
not only harms DNO and its shareholders, but it also undermines the trust in and
integrity of the Norwegian securities market in general", says Mr. Mossavar-
Rahmani.
Oslo, 8 November 2011
DNO International ASA
Corporate Communications
This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to §5-12 vphl
(Norwegian Securities Trading Act)
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
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(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
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originality of the information contained therein.
Source: DNO International ASA via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1561749]
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