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UPDATE – Max Petroleum shares soar as Assaubayevs take majority stake

Published: 11:49 04 Aug 2014 BST

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--Adds background and updates for share price--

Max Petroleum (LON:MXP) shares shot to the top of AIM’s leader board, rising around 30%, after revealing the influential Assaubayev family is taking a majority stake in the company.

AGR Holdings, a vehicle of the Assaubayevs, is investing £37mln of new funds via a share subscription which will give it 51% of the company.

The new shares are priced at 1.64p each, a 37% premium to Friday’s closing price.

It comes after Max launched a strategic review last month, after it breached technical covenents on its US$85.9mln facility with lender Sberbank.

This effectively put the company up for sale. Further transactions may still be possible as the review is ongoing, and it is still open to a sale.

Nevertheless, AGR is said to be committed to Max remaining for the foreseeable future an independent company with publicly traded shares.

The Assaubayev family, according to Max, are long-term investors and have a track record of effective investment and support of enterprises, particularly in Central Asia.

Max says it is AGR’s intention to utilise its local knowledge and support the company's further growth in Kazakhstan, both in terms of existing operations and new opportunities amid a consolidation in the oil and gas sector in Central Asia.

In the immediate term, today’s cash injection enables Max to continue with the development of the Sagiz West field, which it estimates will cost US$20mln to bring into production, with a further US$18mln required to develop its other post-salt fields in Kazakhstan.

Drilling at the NUR-1 well, meanwhile, will cost a further US$20-25mln to complete, a development that will require additional funding over and above the latest subscription.

On AIM this morning, Max Petroleum shares moved 0.36p (28.98%) higher to trade at 1.58p each.

The Assaubayev family is best known for its Altyn Group, which owns gold mines in Kazakhstan and JSC Credit Altyn Bank.

Aidar Assaubayev and Kanat Assaubayev will join the Max Petroleum board.

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