Click the image on the right for the news.
Shares in 2nd/3rd tier oil and gas prospectors can go down as well as up.
The back story here is that the London market has been gripped by takeover speculation in the wake of a bidding war for Cove Energy, which owns a stake in a serious gas prospect off the coast of Mozambique. Everything with either “energy” in its name or an asset somewhere in the vicinity of East Africa has ripped higher over recent days.
Until Tuesday, that is, and the news from Bowleven…
Dragon Oil was caught by the new(ish) oh-so-rigorous Takeover Code disclosure rules. Bowleven’s share price started to rise dramatically in mid-February, forcing Dragon into a premature expression of interest. The “interest,” we now know, was “passing”; no detailed discussion, no due diligence work.
Singed fingers all round.