International law firm Bird & Bird has advised AIM- and TSX-listed TransGlobe Energy Corporation (TransGlobe) on its merger with VAALCO Energy, Inc. (VAALCO) in a share- for-share strategic business combination transaction.
TransGlobe is an independent oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company, with international operations in Egypt and Canada. The company has operated in Egypt since 2004, and recently restructured its core concessions to improve the fiscal terms and maximise recoveries in the Eastern Desert region. VAALCO is an established oil and gas E&P organisation, with a 63.6% interest in the Etame Marin block, offshore Gabon, alongside other operations in West Africa, primarily Equatorial Guinea.
The merger creates an Africa focussed E&P group with an almost doubled production capacity and a more diversified, lower risk profile geared towards value generation and growth. The new combined company will have significant 1P and 2P reserve base of 32 and 52 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBOE) with mid-point 2022 production guidance of 17.7 to 190.0 MBOE per day on a net revenue interest basis.
The Bird & Bird team was led by Clive Hopewell (partner, Corporate), with the support of Simon Allport (partner, Corporate), Fiona McFarlane (legal director, Corporate), and Edward Reardon (associate, Corporate) in the London corporate group and Michael Rudd (partner, Commercial) from the Commercial group. The Canadian lawyers to TransGlobe were BD&P, led by partners Kelsey Clark and Bill Maslechko, and the US lawyers were Paul Weiss, led by Adam Givertz.
Clive Hopewell, Corporate partner at Bird & Bird says: “It was a pleasure to advise TransGlobe on its merger with VAALCO. We acted on TransGlobe’s original listing on AIM and it is satisfying to see the company succeed in its ambitions to develop into a leading Africa focussed E&P group. In this era of energy transition, combined with significant global threats to energy security, developing countries are understandably seeking a combination of energy sources and the newly merged group is well placed to develop new projects as part of the energy mix.”
Randy Nealy, the CEO of TransGlobe says: “This is a landmark transaction which should mark the beginning of a new force in the African focused energy arena. The bringing together of two successful companies in four operating jurisdictions and three regulatory ones was a complicated task, which would not have been possible without the assistance of a highly capable legal team”.
Mayer Brown (UK and US) and Osler (Canada) advised VAALCO.
