OilMax set to seal Asian Oilfield acquisition
OilMax promoter Kapil Garg is taking a hands-on approach to turning around its acquisition target Asian Oilfield Services.
PETROWATCH learns Mumbai-based OilMax and private equity fund Samara Capital - which holds 56.34% in BSE-listed Asian - are planning to sign a deal on April 11 giving OilMax a controlling stake. Small investors, foreign institutional investors and corporate bodies hold the remaining 43.66%.
"OilMax has set up a team that's working on the Asian Oilfield acquisition," confirms a source. Last Friday (April 1) Garg was personally overseeing the preparation of Asian's bid for an Oil India seismic tender alongside Asian employees from its Gurgaon office.
Garg it seems is keen that Asian wins a high value job soon and has set his hopes on Oil India's tender to shoot 359-sq km 3D at the AA-ONN-2010/2 block in Assam's precarious Karbi-Anglong district, estimated to be worth between Rs100cr ($16m) and Rs150cr ($25m). Garg is also trying to revive Asian's Rs13cr ($2m) contract with Jubilant Energy to shoot 140.5-lkm 2D at the AA-ONN-2002/1 block in Tripura.
After winning the Jubilant job in September 2015, Asian mobilised crew and equipment last December but a shortage of funds prevented it from completing work. Now a joint team from OilMax and Asian are working to get the project on track and visited the block last week.
