UAE firm Dana Gas said it has agreed to acquire Canada’s Centurion Energy International for C$1.15 billion ($1.02 billion) to expand into the upstream gas sector.

Under the deal, Dana Gas would acquire “all of Centurion’s outstanding common shares for C$12.00 per share, representing an equity value of approximately C$1.15 billion on a fully-diluted basis”, the company said in a statement.
Centurion shareholders will meet to approve the acquisition in early January 2007, it added.
Calgary-based Centurion, an oil and gas firm operating in Egypt and West Africa, said in October it was in talks with an unnamed firm about a possible transaction, sending its shares up nearly five per cent.
“We are pleased to offer Centurion shareholders full value for a company that meets perfectly Dana Gas’s stated objective of acquiring E&P (exploration and production) operations with production and clearly identified exploration prospects for future growth,” Dana Gas said.
It said the offer price represents a premium of 36.4 per cent over the trading price of Centurion shares on October 30, the last trading day before Centurion said it received an approach from a third party.
It also represents a 55.9 per  cent premium to Centurion’s volume weighted average share price for the 20 trading days up to that date.
“Together, the two companies (Dana Gas and Centurion), will provide the region with a strong indigenous private-sector player to develop the natural gas resources of the wider Middle East,” Centurion chairman and chief executive officer Said Arrata said.
Dana Gas said in addition to existing production and associated cash flow from producing fields in Egypt, there were growth opportunities from exploration assets in Egypt and exploration properties in Tunisia and a joint development zone shared between Sao Tome and Nigeria. Dana Gas also aims to expand into gas transmission and distribution, including LNG trading, as well as gas-related industries and petrochemicals.