Sona confident of securing deal this year

KUALA LUMPUR: Sona Petroleum Bhd, which recently aborted plans to acquire Salamander Energy (Bualuang) Ltd, is confident of announcing a new deal by year-end, said its managing director Datuk Seri Hadian Hashim.
"We are still focused on and very prudent at looking for low-risk assets...as part of our key strategy in Asia Pacific. There are shortlisted candidates at varying degrees of maturity and due diligence is being carried out. We are confident that we will be able to do the QA (qualifying asset) within the timeframe specified," he told reporters at its AGM yesterday.
He said the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is still looking for a QA within the same asset class and same region, as per its prospectus.
"We are looking at onshore, shallow waters, that is, combination of that class. It's a question of price. We are very confident," he added.
He said the region of interest remains the same namely Southeast Asia and Africa, and it is not looking for assets beyond these areas.
However, he declined to reveal further details on the potential QAs, except to say that it is looking at "several" assets.
Commenting on concerns of the SPAC's ability to meet its July 30, 2016 deadline, chairman Andre van Strijp said it has time to analyse and select the best QA.
"What we are interested in is not necessarily to make the QA now because we have time to optimise," he said.
"We know the time (needed) to obtain the approvals, we have experience in that. It is still sufficient. It is a compromise between making the QA now and optimising," he added.
He said the termination of the sale and purchase agreement with Salamander Energy was perceived as negative but the positive was that the oil price had started dropping at that time.
"It was a kind of blessing in disguise as well because if we had continued with that particular QA, it would have been less attractive than we would have liked.
"Very early this year, we started again to pursue further QAs. We had to realise that the oil price had dropped so it was very difficult, we had to judge what was the right time, when are the right prospects coming on the market. We are pursuing a few alternatives now, making use of this reduced oil price and therefore, there are now more attractive possibilities, more attractive QAs coming on the market," he added.
On shareholders' concerns over directors' fees for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 amounting to RM435,000 that was brought up during the AGM yesterday, Strijp said the expenditures were within approved limits and budgets.
"It is quite normal and correct that shareholders are critical about all expenditure, including expenditures made for directors fees and so on. We have been able to answer all questions satisfactorily," he said.