Santos shares jump on $36 billion takeover bid, energy surge as markets brace for war — as it happened

At first blush, Santos looks to have a lot more hurdles in front of it than a runner in the Grand National — and for that matter, the hurdles are a lot steeper too.

The Santos board has had the company on the block for a while, and the $36 billion bid from a consortium of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and US private equity firm, Carlyle, is testimony to the board’s sales pitch.

Understandably, the lure of cold hard cash upfront at a 28% premium to Friday close is particularly alluring to the board and many shareholders.

On figures from the broker E&P, the offer implies Brent crude at $US78/a barrel and the Aussie dollar at 70 cents.

It would have looked even juicier a week ago before the oil price rallied around 15%.

There’s…

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