Qalaa shareholders approve EGP 3.87 bn raise for 27.1% ERC stake

Qalaa Holdings shareholders cleared the EGP 3.87 bn capital increase that pays for the company’s move to 27.1% of the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC), up from 13%, according to an EGX filing (pdf). An extraordinary general assembly yesterday approved the raise along with the use-of-proceeds study the Financial Regulatory Authority had asked for.

Shareholders also adopted a mechanism to settle shareholder current accounts arising from a restructuring approved in July 2023, but the filing gives no detail beyond that. The current accounts trace back to Qalaa’s multi-year effort to clear shareholder debt off its balance sheet, which has repeatedly run through capital increases.

ICYMI- Qalaa isn’t buying ERC shares directly. It’s taking 55.4% of New Age Refining, a holding vehicle that is itself acquiring QPI Egypt at par value. QPI is QatarEnergy’s local holdco, which carries a 25.4% effective stake in the Mostorod refinery. Run the math through both layers and Qalaa picks up 14.1 percentage points of indirect exposure, and its Qatari partner exits.

The EGP 3.87 bn raise also covers paying down Arab International Bank and other local creditors, and exercising the first tranche of Qalaa’s right to buy back Taqa Arabia stock, an option it kept when it sold 20% of Taqa to the military’s National Service Projects Organization for EGP 1.6 bn. Existing shareholders will be offered 773.5 mn new shares at EGP 5 apiece, split 588.7 mn ordinary and 184.9 mn preferred, taking paid-up capital to EGP 25 bn from EGP 21.13 bn. Management wants both the raise and the ERC close done before mid-December.

More time to bid

Arab Energy Fund gets more time to bid for Maridive: The Financial Regulatory Authority has given the Riyadh-based multilateral Arab Energy Fund (formerly known as Apicorp) an additional 30 business days to submit its tender offer for EGX-listed Maridive & Oil Services, according to an FRA letter (pdf) filed with the bourse. The extension runs from the business day after the original 25 October deadline, pushing the cutoff into early December. The letter doesn’t say why the fund asked for more time. The Capital Market Law’s executive regulations allow the FRA to grant up to 60 days if it finds the bidder’s reasons serious.

REFRESHER- The fund said in July it planned a non-binding offer for 20% of Maridive at a preliminary USD 0.65-0.72 a share, a 32.3-46.5% premium to the stock’s three-month average close at the time. Maridive opened its books to the fund in early August, starting a due diligence window of up to 60 business days. Final price and terms hinge on the outcome of the due diligence.

Lorcan-6 adds a splash

Petronefertiti has struck crude and gas in the Eastern Desert, yielding 1.5k bbl / d of oil and 8 mmcf / d of associated gas during production testing at its Lorcan-6 exploratory well in North Zeit Bay, according to an Oil Ministry statement. Petronefertiti, an operating venture under state-owned Ganope backed by the UK’s Dana Petroleum and South Korea’s KNOC, will connect the well to production once testing and technical work wrap up.

Test flows are an early indicator rather than output. By our math, the well’s 1.5k bbl / d test rate is equivalent to about 0.3% of the roughly 527k bbl / d of crude and condensate the country currently produces. It is one of the 101 exploration wells the ministry planned for 2026 under a USD 1.3 bn program, with five earmarked for the Eastern Desert. The broader upstream push is aimed at lifting national crude and condensate toward 750k bbl / d by 2030, Oil Minister Karim Badawi said at the Egypt Forum.