Valiant Petroleum provides the following update with regard to its offer to the shareholders of Sagex Petroleum ASA to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Sagex for a total consideration of NOK 64.1 million (£7.1 million).

As at the close of the Offer on 10 June 2011 Valiant had received acceptances in excess of 94% of the total number of voting shares in Sagex on a fully diluted basis, significantly in excess of the two thirds acceptance condition. Working in close collaboration, Valiant and Sagex have also made progress on seeking all necessary corporate, third party and regulatory consents, which remain key conditions to the Offer. Valiant remains confident that the transaction will reach completion ahead of the long stop date of 31 August 2011.

Reflecting the significant progress on moving the Offer towards completion, an interim board of directors of Sagex was elected via an Extraordinary General Meeting on 14 June 2011 comprising representatives of two of Sagex's major shareholders and Sandy Shaw, an executive director of Valiant.

Valiant has also been informed by Sagex that the first of its two planned Norwegian exploration wells is anticipated to commence operations on License P471 by early August 2011. The well will be drilled by the Borgland Dolphin semi-submersible rig and target Chamonix, a potentially large Cretaceous stratigraphic prospect, and the secondary Cortina target of Jurassic age. Sagex holds a 20% working interest and the licence partners are OMV (50%, operator) and Noreco (30%).

Peter Buchanan, CEO of Valiant, commented,"We would like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Sagex board of directors for their hard work and professionalism over the past few months, which has made Valiant's offer for Sagex possible. We look forward to working towards successful completion of the Offer with both Sagex's management team and new board of directors."

In accordance with the AIM Rules, the information in this announcement has been reviewed and signed off by Paul Mann, Chief Operating Officer, who has over 30 years' relevant experience within the sector.

Tags: Valiant Petroleum Limited