Beach Energy, Drillsearch Complete Merger

Beach Energy on Tuesday said all conditions relating to the scheme of arrangement to merge Beach and Drillsearch Energy Limited have been satisfied.  

As a result, Drillsearch is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Beach. “Issue of new Beach shares to Drillsearch shareholders will occur today, and trading of these shares will commence on Wednesday, 2 March 2016, on a normal settlement basis,” Beach said in a statement.  

From Beach’s perspective, the merger provides an additional 19,000 km2 of gross acreage within its core Cooper Basin area in Australia.  “It delivers full ownership of our key Western Flank oil and gas permits, expands our gas and gas liquids acreage, and provides an enlarged exploration footprint.”

Focus will now turn to integration, which will initially target cost reductions and portfolio optimization, Beach stated, adding that aim is to have integration completed by 30 June 2016, allowing a large portion of the expected A$20 million in synergies to be realised during FY17.