Dno ASA

Norwegian oil company DNO has agreed revised terms for its proposed takeover of UK-listed Capricorn Energy, raising its offer to $5.214 in cash per share and valuing the company at $396m, or £294m. Capricorn's directors intend to unanimously recommend that shareholders support the deal. The revised proposal replaces an earlier structure that offered $4.224 in cash per share plus a proposed special dividend of $0.99, with shareholders now receiving the full acquisition value directly in cash from DNO's Bidco subsidiary; the companies said the new arrangement provides greater certainty of value because it does not depend on Capricorn declaring and paying the proposed dividend before the transaction becomes effective, and Capricorn's board no longer expects to declare and pay a dividend equivalent to that amount. The revised cash consideration is equivalent to £3.88 per share, a premium of roughly 46% to Capricorn's closing share price of £2.66 on 10 March 2026, the day before the offer period began, and 61% above the company's three-month volume-weighted average price of £2.41. DNO's proposal increases the implied value of Capricorn by around $36m compared with the acquisition value under the earlier offer from Genel Energy on a constant-currency basis, an increase of $0.474 per Capricorn share and a premium of around 10% to the value of the Genel proposal; Capricorn had agreed to DNO's original proposal earlier this month, leading Genel to withdraw from the takeover process. Bidco plans to fund the cash consideration and associated fees from existing cash resources, and its financial adviser Lambert Energy has said sufficient funds are available to meet the revised offer. The scheme document is expected to be published by 29 September 2026, and the transaction, which remains subject to conditions, is expected to become effective during the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027, with shareholders able to elect to receive the cash consideration in sterling subject to exchange rate movements and any applicable transaction costs.

DNO has agreed to acquire Capricorn Energy for $396 million, marking its entry into Egypt's upstream oil and gas sector. The transaction adds Egyptian assets as a new operating region alongside DNO's existing positions in the North Sea and Kurdistan. Capricorn's board backed DNO's offer, which prevailed over a competing bid. The acquisition gives DNO a third operating leg, following the same playbook as the Sval Energi deal, which focused on established, high-margin assets. Key milestones now are deal completion timing and how DNO updates guidance once the Egyptian assets are consolidated, currently expected between Q4 2026 and Q1 2027.

Bloomberg News reports that the value of takeovers of companies listed on the UK stock market since the start of the year has surged more than 200% to nearly $110 billion, following a summer that saw several large deals announced, with foreign investors and private equity firms still seeking attractively valued businesses. The latest and largest deal is Veritas Capital's acquisition of Bodycote Plc for approximately £1.65 billion, or $2.2 billion, while Epiris has offered around £1 billion to buy Gamma Communications Plc, and Norway's energy company DNO has reached an agreement to acquire Capricorn Energy Plc for about £292 million. These deals follow the busiest summer on record for the UK M&A market, which previously saw acquisitions of EasyJet Plc and Segro Plc. Much of the buying has come from foreign companies and private equity funds looking for attractively priced assets in the UK stock market, which offers appealing valuations. Several UK companies have already been acquired, including Schroders Plc, Intertek Plc, and Beazley Plc. The acceleration of M&A deals is good news for investment banks in London, but it reflects the long-term challenges facing the UK capital markets, as London experiences a sluggish IPO and listing market, which could impact the ecosystem of the financial industry in the city.

Norwegian oil producer DNO has agreed a recommended cash acquisition of Capricorn Energy valued at approximately $396 million, outbidding Genel Energy for the UK-listed producer and giving DNO an entry into Egypt's upstream sector. Under the proposed transaction, Capricorn shareholders would receive an aggregate $5.214 per share, consisting of $4.224 per share in cash from DNO's acquisition vehicle and an expected $0.99-per-share special dividend to be paid by Capricorn, provided the necessary conditions are met. The total value represents roughly a 10% premium to the $4.74-per-share acquisition value offered by Genel, which had valued Capricorn at approximately $360 million. Capricorn's board now intends to unanimously recommend the DNO transaction, despite shareholders having already approved the Genel scheme on August 18, though that deal had not completed and remained subject to further conditions. For DNO, the acquisition would establish Egypt as a third core operating region alongside the North Sea and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, with Capricorn's assets concentrated in Egypt's Western Desert, where the company reported working-interest production of 20,024 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025 and $134 million of Egyptian oil and gas revenue. The transaction remains conditional on Capricorn shareholder approval, court approval, and consent from the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, with the scheme expected to become effective during the fourth quarter of 2026 or first quarter of 2027. The takeover contest also comes while DNO is separately considering an acquisition of Genel itself, having approached Genel with a possible offer after making an initial proposal on July 28, and has until September 4 to announce a firm offer for Genel or state that it does not intend to proceed.

DNO ASA has agreed to transfer selected non-core license interests to Equinor Energy AS in exchange for a significantly reduced decommissioning deposit, improving near-term liquidity by more than USD 35 million. The agreement replaces a post-tax deposit obligation assumed through DNO's 2025 acquisition of Sval Energi AS, which would have been held by Equinor until the Ekofisk and Martin Linge fields are decommissioned. Under the new terms, DNO will make a one-time payment and transfer a 20 percent interest in PL293B and 293 CS, a 29 percent interest in PL827 S, and a 10 percent interest in PL1245. DNO will fully exit the Kveikje discovery while retaining 20 percent interests in Heisenberg and PL1245. Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said the divestment fast-tracks monetization of exploration discoveries without changing reserves or output, and the company remains on track to raise North Sea production to 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030.

DNO ASA provided a trading update for the second quarter of 2026 and announced it will publish full operating and interim financial results on 13 August. Net production in the North Sea averaged 84,912 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 33,348 a year earlier, while Kurdistan output fell to 273 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 56,070 following a prolonged shutdown. The company restarted limited field operations at the Tawke license in April and initiated production from the Tawke field on 28 June and from Peshkabir on 11 July. DNO also completed a multi-asset swap with Vår Energi ASA, acquiring a five percent stake in the Gjøa field and the Gjøa Nord discovery in exchange for interests in Nova and PL956 plus 17.5 million dollars in cash, and closed the purchase of an additional 3.3 percent interest in the Vega Unit from INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS, raising its holding to 8.8 percent. The Dvalin Nord field started production on 30 June and is expected to deliver 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day net to DNO at plateau. The company paid a dividend of 0.375 Norwegian kroner per share, totaling 39.4 million dollars, and made tax payments of 98.3 million dollars in Norway during the quarter.

DNO ASA announced that an appraisal well has further delineated the 2023 Carmen gas-condensate discovery in Norwegian North Sea license PL1148, with recoverable resources now estimated at 21–107 million barrels of oil equivalent. The bulk of recoverable volumes was encountered in the Etive Formation, where reservoir quality ranges from moderate to poor, and the partnership will evaluate hydraulic fracturing to enhance recovery. Further appraisal and exploration drilling is being considered, including targets in the north of the laterally extensive Carmen structure. The license partnership consists of DNO Norge AS at 30 percent, operator Wellesley Petroleum AS at 30 percent, Equinor Energy AS at 30 percent, and Aker BP ASA at 10 percent, and will assess development as a tie-back to existing infrastructure such as the Kvitebjørn platform 35 kilometers to the west, in which DNO holds a 19 percent interest.