San Leon Buyback Rewards Shareholders

Irish explorer San Leon has launched a share buyback programme, rewarding shareholders who choose to sell with a 50% premium to the previous day's market close, it said February 20. 

It plans to buy up to 50,475,000 ordinary shares, or about a tenth of the total, through a tender offer at a price of £0.46 ($0.60) each. The offer closes at 13.00 GMT March 20 with cash payments expected by no later than March 29.

Completion of the offer will be conditional on shareholder approval of the offer at the extraordinary general meeting March 15.

CEO Oisin Fanning said the offer was three times bigger than previously announced. "The scale of the tender offer reflects our strong financial position, our confidence in the company's future prospects and commensurate cashflow, and our view that the current share price does not reflect fully the potential value of our business. We will continue to seek opportunities to return capital to shareholders through either further share buyback tenders or dividends, as the business continues to grow and we execute our strategy on the ground in Nigeria."