Almost 400 shareholders in Xcite Energy have signed a petition rejecting a bondholder bail out deal that will see their stakes in the North Sea firm almost wiped out.
The oil and gas explorer’s lenders last month unanimously agreed a restructuring deal that would see them exchange Xcite’s $135million (£110million) debt pile for 98.5% of the company’s share capital.
The online petition had last night attracted 381 signatures of people claiming to be Xcite shareholders just days since it was launched. The petition’s organisers aim to reach 1,000 people who are angry about seeing their shares reduced to just 1.5% of their value. Last night the company’s shares closed over 10% higher to 1.66p.
Investors claimed that Xcite had altered the company’s articles of association to allow them to call an extraordinary general meeting without notice so that they could vote the deal through without shareholders present.
In a recent announcement to the stock exchange the firm admitted it had made an “administrative error” and that it had now filed the correct set of articles.
Xcite, which is headquartered in Surrey, but has its operations base in Aberdeen, has been struggling to hammer out a deal to support its flagship Bentley project in the UK North Sea. The company has been in negotiations with its lenders since December.
It is unlikely the British Virgin Island-registered company would have survived without agreeing a deal with the owners of its debt.
The company was unavailable for comment.
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