Highlight Sona Petroleum still confident of meeting July 2016 QA deadline

Highlight
Sona Petroleum still confident of meeting July 2016 QA deadline

KUALA LUMPUR (June 24): Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Sona Petroleum Bhd said it is still confident of meeting its July 30, 2016 deadline to make a qualifying acquisition (QA), following its failed move to acquire Salamander Energy (Bualuang Holdings) Ltd.
Despite the July 2016 deadline giving slightly more than a year for the SPAC to make its QA, Sona (fundamental: N/A; valuation: N/A) chairman Andre van Strijp said the company still has enough time to properly evaluate its options.
“It’s not necessary to make the QA now, because we still have time to analyse and check the best QA. We are aware of the time needed to obtain the approvals, we have experience in that. We still have sufficient time. It’s a compromise between making the QA now and optimising our choice,” he said.
Sona managing director Datuk Seri Hadian Hashim said the company was still focusing on the Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern and African regions, aiming to acquire low risk small-to-medium exploration and production (E&P) assets.
“There are shortlisted candidates, with varying degrees of maturity. Due diligence works are being carried out. We are confident that we would be able to do the QA within the timeframe specified,” he said, addressing a press conference following the company’s annual general meeting today.
He added that Sona is looking at onshore and shallow water projects, and is not looking at acquisitions outside of the specified regions.
At 12.30pm, Sona was unchanged at 42 sen, with a market capitalisation of RM592.5 million.
(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)