Trinity Exploration & Production PLC and Lease Operators Ltd on Friday said they have agreed to a takeover offer for Trinity from Lease Operators, as the Trinity board withdrew its recommendation for a rival bid from fellow AIM listing Touchstone Exploration Inc.

Lease Operators offered to pay 68.05 pence per Trinity share in cash. This values all of Trinity at £26.4 million.

Trinity shares were up 9.7% to 62.50p early Friday in London. Touchstone shares down 2.6% to 33.13p. Touchstone has a market capitalisation of C$141.3 million, about £80 million.

The Touchstone offer currently is worth 52.1p per share, Trinity and Lease Operators noted, so the Lease Operators offer is 31% higher. It also is in cash, whereas the Touchstone offer was in shares, offering 1.5 new Touchstone shares for each Trinity share.

At the time of the Touchstone offer back in May, it was worth 61.9p per share, but the Touchstone share price has fallen since.

Trinity is a Trinidad & Tobago-focused oil exploration and production company. Lease Operators is incorporated in Trinidad & Tobago and is part of the Well Services Group, which was founded in 1967 by Charles Brash, who is still active in the company and is the current chair of Lease Operators.

‘We believe that the [Lease Operators offer] is a material improvement for Trinity shareholders over the Touchstone offer and accelerates, without further capital investment, time or operational risk, the delivery of fair value to Trinity shareholders,’ says Trinity Chair Nick Clayton.

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