Premier Oil’s largest creditor has spoken out once more against the firm’s plans to acquire North Sea assets and extend debt maturities.
Asia Research and Capital Management (ARCM) conceded that today’s creditor meetings would likely give Premier the majority vote it requires to proceed with its plans.
ARCM said most creditors had already contractually locked themselves into voting in favour of the scheme proposals.
But ARCM, which holds more than 15% of Premier’s debt and has a short position for nearly 17% of its stock, hasn’t given up hope of blocking the schemes in court.
It said a hearing scheduled for March 17 was not a ‘rubber-stamping’ exercise and that the court would consider issues “beyond the outcome of the vote at the creditors’ meetings”.
Creditors can raise objections at the hearing and ARCM vowed to file “substantial evidence and submissions” which it believes will show that the court should block the deal.
ARCM is worried about Premier’s recently struck deals to buy £660 million worth of North Sea oil and gas assets from BP and Shell – news that led to a double-digit percentage boost for its shares.
London-listed Premier, which has net debts of £1.5 billion, also announced plans to extend its credit facilities to 2023.
ARCM said Premier should be selling assets, not buying new ones, to reduce its debts.
Premier gained court approval last month for the creditor vote on its proposals.
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