C.A.T. oil acquires oilfield services company FilOrAm from TNK-BP
Baden/Vienna (euro adhoc) -
- Geographic expansion within European Russia and northwest Kazakhstan - Further increase in hydraulic fracturing capacities
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merger, acquisition and takeover
April 16, 2007 - C.A.T. oil AG (O2C, ISIN: AT0000A00Y78), one of the leading providers of oil and gasfield services in Russia and Kazakhstan, acquired through its operating subsidiaries CATOBNEFT and CAT oil Leasing a 100% equity stake in the oilfield services company FilOrAm from Russian oil and gas major TNK-BP. Following the approval by Anti-monopoly Committee on March 16, 2007, the transaction was closed on April 4, 2007. FilOrAm is a provider of conventional hydraulic fracturing and acid fracturing services. The company was established in 1994 and currently employs 156 people. It operates one fracturing fleet with total pumping capacity of 9,000 HP, similar to the fleets operated by C.A.T. oil. Up to date, FilOrAm has performed around 1,100 fracturing jobs. In 2006 the company accomplished 126 jobs, of which 86 were conventional fracs and 40 acid fracs. According to Russian Accounting Standards, in 2006 FilOrAms EBIT stood at EUR 0.45 million on revenues of EUR 6.62 million. At the time of the transaction, the company had zero net debt on the balance sheet. The company is located in the Orenburg region in European Russia. Due to that, the new subsidiary provides C.A.T. oil strategic access to Russias Volga-Urals and Timan-Pechora oil and gas basins, as well as a highly competitive base towards northwestern Kazakhstan. Prior to the acquisition FilOrAm predominately served its parent company TNK-BP, which accounted for more than 50% of its 2006 revenues. C.A.T. oil plans to strongly increase the number of frac jobs and aggressively diversify the companys customer base in Russia and Kazakhstan leveraging its distinct growth opportunities in these regions. As a first step, C.A.T. oil plans to upgrade FilOrAms fracturing capacities to the high standards of its operation units. Leonid Mirzoyan, Chief Corporate Finance Officer of C.A.T. oil AG, commented: "With this strategic acquisition, C.A.T. oil has proved once again its commitment to regional diversification and sustainable expansion of its core hydraulic fracturing business. FilOrAm enables us a strong foothold in European Russia and northwestern Kazakhstan. The massive rationalization potential of the acquired company and its positive outlook for enhancement of the service pricing combined with our ability to leverage the operations with our strong client relations make the acquisition accretive for our shareholders."
www.catoilag.com
end of announcement euro adhoc 16.04.2007 15:15:00
Further inquiry note:
Press contact:
A&B Financial Dynamics
Dr. Lutz Golsch Claudia Werth
Tel.: +49 (0)69 92037-110 Tel.: +49 (0)69 92037-114
Email: l.golsch@abfd.de Email: c.werth@abfd.de
About C.A.T. oil AG:
Austria-based C.A.T. oil AG (O2C, ISIN: AT0000A00Y78) is one of the leading
providers of oil- and gasfield services in Russia and Kazakhstan. C.A.T. oils
core business is hydraulic fracturing, a process which helps to open up oil- and
gas-bearing rock formations in order to increase or even enable oil and gas
production. The C.A.T. oil crews use state-of-the-art methods and technologies
to generate high pressure in the oil or gas reservoirs concerned. This pressure
causes cracks to appear in the rock through which oil or gas can be produced in
larger quantities from the production well, and hence efficiently boosts
extraction, particularly in the case of deposits that are difficult to develop
or low-output wells. In addition, hydraulic fracturing can be used to revitalize
wells that have previously been idle.
The Company has its headquarters in Baden near Vienna and employed 2,230 people
at the end of 2005, most of whom are based in Russia and Kazakhstan. Customers
include leading oil and gas producers such as Gazprom, KazMunaiGaz, LUKOIL,
Rosneft, and TNK-BP. C.A.T. oil has been listed in the Prime Standard of the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange since May 4, 2006, and has been a member of the SDax
since September 18, 2006.
Branche: Oil & Gas - Upstream activities
ISIN: AT0000A00Y78
WKN: A0IKWU
Börsen: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / official dealing