Zeta Resources makes bid for Pan Pacific Petroleum, valuing target at A$29.4M

Zeta Resources, the ASX-listed investment group advised by Duncan Saville's ICM unit, has made a full takeover bid for Pan Pacific Petroleum, valuing the target company at A$29.4 million.

Zeta, which currently owns 16.8 percent of PPP, is offering 5 Australian cents a share for the remaining shares. The stock last traded at 4.5 cents, down from 10.5 cents a year ago.

PPP's assets include a 15 percent interest in the Tui field with NZ Oil - Gas, which has just closed a takeover offer for Melbourne-based Cue Energy Resources with the intention of scaling acceptances back to 30 percent. Saville links the various groups as he is also a director of NZ Oil - Gas and Zeta sold its holding in Cue into the offer.

Cue owns 5 percent of the Maari oil and gas field, offshore Taranaki, adjacent to the Tui field, where NZOG has a 27.5 percent interest. Cue also has an interest in the nearby Manaia prospect.

PPP issued a statement to the ASX advising shareholders to take no action in response to the offer pending an assessment by its board and a formal recommendation.

Zeta's offer document said the company would conduct a review of PPP upon acquisition and "its current expectation is that the review will focus on identifying the most effective means of utilising Pan Pacific's assets and maximising the investment Zeta has made."

The move is the latest in a string of local and international mergers and acquisitions in the oil and gas sector, prompted by the collapse in global oil prices.