The start of Friday’s session marked the rebirth of Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited (LON:GKP) following the Kurdistan oiler’s bruising restructuring.
A total of 21,910,523,553 new shares, the vast majority of which were issued to debtholders, were today admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange.
As a result of the heavily dilutive equity issue there are now a total of 22.9bn Gulf Keystone shares in issue.
Gulf Keystone reduced debt to by US$500mln to around US$100mln through the issue of the shares, with lenders receiving ending up with around 10% of the company.
Now, as Gulf Keystone’s share price stands at 1.25p, investors will be watching whether the once mighty oil stock can rise like a phoenix – or whether the embers fade further.
Takeover talk will likely be the main feature on investor’s agenda.
With the group’s financial future now secure and capital available to maintain the Shaikan field sellers ought to be somewhat less distressed, and many will hope that if the prior interest from suitor DNO resurfaces the offer will be higher.
DNO made a US$300mln approach at the height of the uncertainty, as GKP’s management were pursuing its proposal with bondholders to restructure the business.