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A new player has thrown its hat in the ring for Tethys Petroleum (LON:TPL, TSE:TPL), the Kazakhstan-focused oil & gas company.
Olisol Investment Group, a private company that has its headquarters in Almaty, Kazakhstan, has submitted a non-binding proposal to Tethys, which is currently in takeover and funding negotiations with Nostrum Oil.
At present, Nostrum (LON:NOG) has exclusive rights to talk to Tethys but that period of exclusivity is due to end soon.
Olisol, which has been working in partnership with Tethys since 2009 in connection with the operation of the Aral oil terminal, is proposing to pump C$8mln into Tethys through a share subscription at 16 Canadian cents per share, after which C$24mln will be made available to Tethys.
Tethys shareholders will also be offered the opportunity to sell some of their shares to Olisol at 16 cents a pop.
"Our proposal provides additional equity to Tethys on attractive terms. It also allows shareholders to participate, either by investing alongside us or by effecting a partial exit. We look forward to entering into discussions with Tethys at the earliest possible moment,” said Alexander Skripka, a director of Olisol.
“We have worked alongside Tethys in Kazakhstan before and given our experience investing in the region, we are very familiar with both the obstacles Tethys faces and the opportunities and the opportunities available to it,” he added.
According to reports, Olisol believes a definitive agreement could be reached inside a fortnight, which would trigger the C$8mln payment, with the balance of the transaction to be completed in six to eight weeks after that.
In Toronto, Tethys shares advanced around 16% to 10.5 Canadian cents.