Shares in Britain’s biggest North Sea oil and gas producer soared after a near-£9billion deal put it on course to become a major global player.
On a bumper day for investors ahead of the Christmas break, Harbour Energy jumped 21.1 per cent, or 51.5p, to 295.5p after it agreed to buy Wintershall Dea’s non-Russian assets for £8.8billion.
The deal with the German firm’s owners – German chemicals giant BASF and LetterOne, which was set up by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman – is a major coup for Harbour boss Linda Cook.
Harbour beat other bidders such as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, which is chaired by the COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber.
It said the deal would help turn it into ‘one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse independent oil and gas companies’.
Buy-up deal: On a bumper day for investors ahead of the Christmas break, Harbour Energy jumped 21.1% after it agreed to buy Wintershall Dea’s non-Russian assets for £8.8bn
Cook described the takeover, its fourth major acquisition, as ‘the most transformational step yet in our journey’.
Harbour will take on Wintershall Dea’s upstream assets in seven countries, including Germany, Argentina and Egypt alongside its carbon capture and storage licences in Europe.
But none of Wintershall’s Russian assets will be bought.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.3 per cent, or 20.95 points, to 7694.73 and the FTSE 250 was down 0.3 per cent, or 58.12 points, to 19,570.97.
Burberry sank into the red after the luxury fashion firm was hit by a third downgrade this week.
The latest broker to lower forecasts was Morgan Stanley as it cut the target price to 1600p from 1900p. It followed downgrades from JP Morgan and Jefferies.
Shares fell 4.2 per cent, or 62.5p, to 1429p. Troubled Hipgnosis Songs Funds laid bare its woes as it published delayed half-year results.
Stock Watch – ADVFN
ADVFN bounced back as the financial data site eyed a turnaround. Revenues fell nearly 30 per cent to £5.5million in the year to the end of June while losses rose from £1.4million to £2.2million.
Boss Amit Tauman said it has addressed the outdated infrastructure problems in its joint business in Brazil and closed loss-making operations.
Trading has improved in the first five months of its current financial year.
Shares jumped 52.2 per cent, or 6p, to 17.5p, but are down nearly 80 per cent in the last two years.
Losses widened to £50.5million in the six months to the end of October from £13.5million during the same period last year.
Shares slid 1 per cent, or 0.7p, to 70p.
The founders and top shareholder of a company set to fall into the hands of a US private equity giant have joined forces to oppose the £1.3billion takeover.
Smart Metering Systems two weeks ago accepted KKR’s 955p-a-share offer that represented a 40 per cent premium on the previous day’s closing price.
The AIM-listed firm, which is the main smart meter installer for British Gas, said it would recommend the deal to shareholders but now has a fight on its hands after top shareholder Primestone and founders Alan Foy and Steve Timoney attacked the offer.
The trio, who own nearly 18pc of the company between them, were ‘disappointed’ with the price and intend to vote against the bid.
Shares fell 4.2 per cent, or 40p, to 918p. Harland & Wolff, the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, has walked away from making an offer to buy the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company Limited after its proposal was rejected. Shares rose 4.3 per cent, or 0.5p, to 12.25p.
Cyber security firm NCC sold its fraud detection business Detact to the Dutch firm Data Expert for £8million. Its shares slid 0.9 per cent, or 1.2p, to 129p.
The company behind Domino’s Pizza in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia has urged its top shareholder to return with an improved takeover offer.
DP Eurasia rejected a second bid of £140million on Tuesday from the Indian food service company Jubilant Foodworks because it was too low.
While both sides squabble over whether the 95p-a-share offer can be called a ‘fair price’, DP Eurasia said that it has received further support from other shareholders who also believe that the bid should be improved.
DP Eurasia’s stock climbed 0.5 per cent, or 0.5p, to 93.5p.
