Alistair Osborne's brilliant column this morning was alluding to was I suggesting in yesterday's post about Afren although I have to admit his missive was somewhat more sophisticated, detailed and eloquent than mine. If you haven't read Alistair's column, here is a link to it: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/alistairosborne/article4305158.ece
The one thing Alistair - a former colleague/boss of mine during my time at The Daily Telegraph - didn't mention was that Heritage Oil may be one of the parties keen on coming up with a rival bid for Afren following Seplat's approach.
For readers that don't recall, Heritage Oil was taken private in April by Al Mirqab, a vehicle controlled by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, the former Qatari prime minister also known as "HBJ".
Al Mirqab paid £924m in cash for Tony Buckingham's Heritage Oil. I wonder, though, whether the Qataris are regretting that deal now given where the oil price is today?
Still, some of my sources believe Heritage Oil had a historical interest in owning Afren. However, it's not clear whether the Qataris have the stomach to mount a counter bid for Afren company after paying what now might be considered a high price for Heritage Oil earlier this year.
Elsewhere, I see Bloomberg today released "part 2" of its deals for 2015 prediction list and is also still banging the drum about Stryker preparing to launch a multi-billion bid for FTSE 100 orthopaedics group Smith & Nephew. Here are links to both those articles:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-23/real-m-a-s-2015-guide-for-deal-watchers-oil-mergers-glentinto.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-23/stryker-said-to-plan-takeover-bid-for-smith-nephew-soon.html
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