> http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200804020701443743R
http://www.imperialenergy.com
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200807040700042799Y




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img src="http://charts.moneyam.com/Chart.aspx?Provider=EODIntra&Code=IEC&Size=700&Skin=BlackBlue&Type=2&Scale=0&Span=YEAR1&MA=&EMA=&OVER=&IND=&XCycle=&XFormat=&Layout=2Line;Default;Price;HisDate&SV=0">
cyril

LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - "UK-listed oil explorer Imperial Energy said its agreed takeover by India's ONGC was not at risk because shares owned by collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers would not be tendered for sale.

ONGC has tried to delay its agreed 1.3 billion pound ($1.96 billion) bid for Imperial and sources close to Imperial believe the state-controlled company will back out of the deal if its condition of 90 percent acceptance is not met by the Dec. 30 deadline.

As Lehman Brothers is being wound down, it is possible any shares it owns might not be tendered but the investment bank only held 0.01 percent of Imperial's share capital, Imperial said on Tuesday.

Imperial added that speculation of a postal strike in the UK meant investors should accept the ONGC offer as soon as possible.

Normally, many investors withhold their shares until the last moment in case a rival buyer with a higher bid emerges."

lots of rumour and counter-rumour .... one would assume that IEC would be fully aware of Lehman's true holding, and of course if it were >3%, it would have been notifiable ...... of course, it is possible that Lehman's were holding as nominees or similar, but i have no ideas what the implications of that would be

What's your stance now then Cynic? I am tempted to hold until the bitter end now, unless the sp spikes near to 1200p, which I think is unlikely. It's a risk holding, but the reward if it goes ahead is probably worth it, imo.

Even if the bid fails, this is still going to be a great producer (if I can put it that way), the sp would plunge, followed by a terrific recovery later on.....loads of oil in the ground !.

i have increased my holdimng from the other day and always intended to trade some - which i shall do

Cynic, if you intend to trade some, does that mean you wont take up the offer until the last possible moment, im thinking of doing the same, is it safe to wait until end of this week before accepting offer?

i am in CFDs so it is not for me to assent or otherwise .... offer closes 30/12 from memory

good to see tracker funds now officially on board (real no brainer that one!), which makes the deal far more likely to succeed

any idea wht this means, reported yesterday 22/12/08

BNP Arbitrage:
Long holding: 6,501,223 shares +6.34%
CFD Short: 6,133,810 shares -5.98%.

Not a lot, looks like they have hedged a long position with a cfd short. Assuming the deal goes through they will presumably turn a decent profit. If for any reason it doesn\'t their loss (if any) is protected by the short position.

EK has officially changed his position from short IEC to long from 990p.
Also, those people who bought shares via a nominee a/c (i.e. Internet broker) have cast their dice as acceptance of the 1250p offer has been assumed & stock is now not tradeable. If the offer doesn\'t go through the stock is returned to accounts \'a few days later\' (according to my broker) which seemed a bit vague, but that was as accurate as I could get from them!

to pevent my whole position being frozen yesterday, i sold some more at 1030 leaving a moderate core ....... if the price slips back to say 1000, then may well buy back

It would be nice to make a profit on my account for a change, this seems to have been going on forever !.

tried buying some back on friday or whenever last trading day was, but IG would not (could not?) allow it as they had already declared their position to the due body ..... never mind; at least i still have a reasonable stake and though the deal now looks much more likely to go through, nothing is certain until the end

LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - "India's ONGC had not achieved 90 percent acceptance of its bid for Imperial Energy by the close of business on Monday but the oil explorer is confident its investors will back the deal, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday.

Imperial investors, bankers and analysts believe ONGC will back out of the 1.3 billion pounds ($1.88 billion) deal if shareholders representing 90 percent of Imperial's share capital do no accept the bid by 1300 GMT on Tuesday."

time to bite nails!
it will inevitably be a tight run thing, especially if the rumour of 3%+ being "frozen" in lehman's (IEC stated 0.1%!) is actually correct.
for sure no one will reject the offer, but there will be people who forget to register and if ONGC have a holding, it is unclear how that will be treated - there must be rules surrounding that

market overall seems to believe deal will go through .... so do i!

Still in and hoping, waiting, if this drops like a stone,and as I do not have a trailing stop loss and I cannot watch all the time : I will get my fingers burnt, and will have to sit through the downturn.....longterm if no takeover....good proposition (I think).

trailing stop wouldn't help, as if the deal fails, sp will drop about £3.00 in one move

LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - "India's ONGC is near 90 percent acceptance of its 1.3 billion pounds ($1.88 billion) bid for Imperial Energy, the threshold at which it will be forced to complete the deal, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

'They are very close to the finish line,' the source said.

RBC Capital Markets predicted last week that if the deal was to collapse, the shares would fall to 270-500p/share, based on the recent share performance of other exploration companies operating in the former Soviet Union.

ONGC Videsh, the ONGC unit which is making the bid, declined comment, as did Imperial.

In a takeover, investors often wait to tender their shares to a bidder at the last moment, in the hope a higher bidder will emerge but Imperial and its advisors have been working hard to convince shareholders takeovers to accept the offer."