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Business Wire
19-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Maurel & Prom S.A.: Signing of an SPA to acquire additional interests in Blocks 3/05 and 3/05A in Angola
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News: Etablissements Maurel & Prom S.A. (Paris:MAU) ("M&P", the 'Group') is pleased to announce it has agreed to jointly acquire, alongside Afentra plc ('Afentra'), Etu Energias S.A.'s ('Etu') 10% interest in Blocks 3/05 and 13.33% interest in Block 3/05A in Angola (the 'Acquisition'). M&P has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement ('SPA') with Etu for its 50% share of the Acquisition which is subject to customary closing conditions including approval from Angolan authorities. M&P will acquire an additional interest of 5% in Block 3/05 and 6.67% in Block 3/05A, with an initial consideration of $23 million. A contingent consideration of up to $11 million may be payable, linked to a combination of oil price thresholds, production performance, and the successful development of existing discoveries. The acquisition will be funded entirely from M&P's existing cash resources and available credit facilities ($377 million as of 31 March 2025, proforma finalisation of the accordion in early April). Olivier de Langavant, Chief Executive Officer of M&P, declared: ' This transaction marks a further step in the expansion of M&P's footprint in Angola, a country where we see strong potential for long-term value creation. By increasing our interests in Blocks 3/05 and 3/05A, we reinforce our commitment to stable, producing assets with upside from development and near-field exploration. We are also pleased to strengthen our collaboration with our partners, including Sonangol and Afentra, as we continue supporting Angola's upstream sector. ' Transaction overview M&P has signed an SPA to acquire 50% of Etu's working interests in offshore Blocks 3/05 and 3/05A, consisting in a 5% non-operated working interest in Block 3/05 and a 6.67% non-operated working interest in Block 3/05A. The effective date of the transaction is 31 December 2023. The total headline cash consideration payable by M&P at completion is $23 million. This includes $22 million for the Block 3/05 interest and $1 million for the Block 3/05A interest. The consideration is on a cash-free, debt-free basis and is subject to customary adjustments for working capital and crude inventory balances between the effective date and completion. Based on current estimates, these adjustments are expected to result in a material reduction to the final cash consideration payable at completion. M&P may pay up to $6 million in contingent consideration for Block 3/05: This applies only to the years 2025 and 2026, with the annual contingent payment capped at $3 million; Payments are based on a sliding scale of average annual Brent oil price between $75 per barrel and $123 per barrel; and Only if average gross production exceeds 15,000 barrels of oil per day for the relevant year. A further contingent consideration of up to $5 million may be made in connection with the Caco-Gazela and Punja discoveries on Block 3/05A: Two payments of $2.5 million each are payable one year after first oil from each development; Subject to a minimum Brent price of $75 per barrel and gross production averaging at least 5,000 bopd during the twelve months following first oil; and First oil must occur by 31 December 2029 for the contingent payments to become due. Following completion of the Acquisition, the joint venture partners across both Blocks 3/05 and 3/05A will be comprised as follows: Next steps Completion of the Acquisition remains subject to customary conditions precedent, including government approvals in Angola and finalisation of definitive documentation. M&P expects closing of the Acquisition to take place in the second half of 2025. Asset description Located offshore in the Lower Congo Basin of Angola, Blocks 3/05 and 3/05A are mature, producing assets comprising several oilfields developed since the 1980s, with a strong track record of production. It benefits from established infrastructure and ongoing redevelopment efforts aimed at enhancing recovery. M&P has been a partner on these blocks since 2019. Before the Acquisition, it held a 20% interest in Block 3/05 and a 26.67% interest in Block 3/05A. As of Q1 2025, gross production on Blocks 3/05 and 3/05A was respectively 21,300 bopd and 800 bopd. Glossary For more information, please visit This document may contain forecasts regarding the financial position, results, business and industrial strategy of Maurel & Prom. By their very nature, forecasts involve risk and uncertainty insofar as they are based on events or circumstances which may or may not occur in the future. These forecasts are based on assumptions we believe to be reasonable, but which may prove to be incorrect and which depend on a number of risk factors, such as fluctuations in crude oil prices, changes in exchange rates, uncertainties related to the valuation of our oil reserves, actual rates of oil production rates and the related costs, operational problems, political stability, legislative or regulatory reforms, or even wars, terrorism and sabotage. Maurel & Prom is listed on Euronext Paris CAC Mid & Small – CAC All-Tradable – PEA-PME and SRD eligible Isin FR0000051070 / Bloomberg / Reuters
RNZ News
07-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Mediawatch: Who calls the shots after change at the top?
The New Zealand Herald reports the news that its rival has gone into business with Trade Me. Photo: New Zealand Herald "NZME's D-Day is finally here" said a headline in the New Zealand Herald last Tuesday, before shareholders of its owner NZME settled a bitter battle over its governance. But in the end, there was no fighting on the beaches. The existing board and the activist shareholders who wanted to clear it out compromised late last month and endorsed an agreed slate of nominees. That included the Canadian billionaire who sparked the whole saga, James Grenon. He has lived here for 12 years but had such a low profile only two photos of him appeared in the many media stories about his bid for control. Grenon had not been heard in public here until last Tuesday's meeting, at which he told shareholders he was virtually "a ghost on Google". He has only been an NZME shareholder since February when he bought between 9 and 10 percent of the shares. He currently owns a 13 percent stake. Soon after he told the board he wanted to be the chair - and to act like "an owner-operator" and "delve into the operational details so as to be able to challenge management." This raised eyebrows, given he helped to set up alternative news sites critical of the Herald and other local news media. In mid-March, the main journalists' trade union E tū called on Grenon to guarantee he would not interfere in NZME editorial decisions. The Post reporting in NZME's chair speaking out against a bid to oust the current board of the company. Photo: Stuff / The Post NZME's board - on the defensive at that time - said it was also concerned that Grenon's takeover bid was an effort for "control over a newsroom, rather than anything else". More media eyebrows were raised when the Free Speech Union confirmed it encouraged billionaire Jim Grenon's investment in the NZME as part of a campaign to "retake our institutions - one board at a time." But Grenon insisted his main focus was NZME's financial performance and how it had been represented by the previous board. His belief that NZME's profitable property platform OneRoof could be a source of greater reward evidently resonated with other shareholders too. In the end, after some awkward questions to James Grenon on Tuesday, shareholders gave a green light to the governance plan. Grenon is now on the board led by former radio entrepreneur and government minister Steven Joyce. So peace in our time at NZME - at least, for now. But earlier in the day, shots were fired by NZME's main rival in news publishing. Stuff Group chief executive Sinead Boucher and TradeMe chief executive Anders Skoe. Photo: Supplied / TradeMe Hours before NZME's meeting, Stuff announced TradeMe would take a 50 percent stake in Stuff Digital, the online wing of the company that does not include the newspaper mastheads like The Press, The Post and their websites. It is an alliance observers expected after Stuff's sole owner Sinead Boucher split the company in two last year - and then divided her single share into one million in February. What's in this for Trade Me is pretty clear - more eyeballs for stuff that's for sale on its own online marketplace, especially houses. But what will it do for Stuff and its users? And what is the catch for Stuff? "We've been doing quite nicely on our own ... [but] it allows us to expand and do more and to keep growing," Sinead Boucher told Mediawatch. The money that changed hands in the deal - and the terms - were confidential, but "there is a capital injection there that we will use to do all sorts of things," Boucher said. "We're going to start with rebranding the Stuff Property section and to Trade Me Property and some added features in that. Trade Me has all the data and expertise and insights. We'll be following not too long after that with motoring. Let's see what comes after that." The 50-50 split of Stuff Digital will be run by a board of two members of the Stuff Group, and two from Trade Me including chief executive Anders Skoe. "I will be the chair and I have the casting vote on that board," Boucher said. But Trade Me is much bigger than Stuff. What if they want more bang for the undisclosed bucks they're now investing? "Those scenarios have come up and just been discussed in all we've gone through the last few months to make sure that both sides are perfectly comfortable." Would Trade Me allow Stuff to sell part of its stake to another party? Or seek or accept investment from another? "You're touching on what would be the confidential terms of the deal, so I can't really comment on that in any detail," Boucher said. During the NZME boardroom battle, it also emerged that NZME had approached Stuff about acquiring its mastheads. When asked at the shareholders' meeting on Tuesday, NZME chief executive Michael Boggs said he was still interested in acquiring Stuff's mastheads. "He has my number, but I've got my own things going on at the moment. I'm not intending to do anything with that business at this stage," Boucher said. What NZME's new leaders decide to do will also move the media industry - and public life. It owns the Herald and other weekly, daily and community papers, and the Herald's news website and app have a huge national audience and more than 150,000 subscribers. NZME also has half the country's radio networks, including the country's top-rating talk radio station Newstalk ZB. On top of all that - and maybe worth more on its own - is NZME's OneRoof, which posted a 50 percent leap in revenue last year. The outgoing board was already looking at splitting it off with separate governance and management, or even selling it. Property content platforms can be goldmines for media companies. Stuff's former Australian owner Fairfax Media created Domain to cater for the A$7 billion a year real estate market. It's just been sold for A$2.8b to US property firm Costar by current owner Nine Entertainment - the same company that offloaded Stuff to Boucher for one symbolic dollar five years ago. NZME will be anxious about Stuff's Trade Me property joint venture eating OneRoof's lunch. "We are now dealing with an integrated media enemy," one of the shareholders said at the NZME meeting last Tuesday. For years, Stuff has looked for ways to bring in money - broadband, electricity and even noodle night markets. When Warner Brothers Discovery closed Newshub last year, Stuff struck a multi-million dollar deal to produce ThreeNews. Is property content now the future for funding news? "It reflects the position it holds in people's lives and how important all things about property - buying, selling, saving, mortgage rates - all of those things perform well on our site," Boucher said. "With Trade Me being number one in that area I think we will end up producing a more useful, more relevant product for our audiences." "Before bringing someone in or selling part of part of the business ... you have to be on the same page around the sanctity of editorial independence," Boucher said. "The business continues to run operationally independently, and Trade Me is very happily in support of our editorial independence. They will have absolutely no say on the content that goes on the site." "I fielded one call from someone who wanted to buy one of our local papers. They wanted to change the mayor of the town. Some wanted to buy a whole media company for the power of influence on the public agenda." Concerns that the new board at NZME will seek to change editorial practice have been a sticking point ever since Grenon raised them in his initial bid to be chair. Grenon's final written notes for shareholders to ponder included the claim that AI could be deployed to track political bias in NZ Herald journalism. "Things were drifting downhill from my perspective ... particularly in the editorial front," Grenon said Tuesday's meeting. "I thought, well, maybe I can sort of jump-start something here. And I'm very, very delighted with the way it seems to have worked out." Another shareholder (also coincidentally from Canada) urged Grenon to "inject more balance" on climate change to NZME journalism. "Ultimately, there's very few businesses that you really can try to look over the shoulders of your staff as they're performing the business. I don't know that writing is a heck of a lot different than that," Grenon replied. "But you can have general guidelines, and you can also score after the fact and see how you're doing at meeting these guidelines. If they aren't meeting the guidelines, you can sort of nudge them in the right directions." "Maybe I would like to see more clear score-keeping than has been going on, although perhaps my eyes will be opened when I get on the inside," he added. An editorial advisory board will be established by the new regime. One of the members will be lawyer Philip Crump, who previously blogged and broke the odd story under the pseudonym Thomas Cranmer - an archbishop of Canterbury executed for heresy. It is not Crump's first gig at NZME. In mid-2023, he was appointed as editor of ZB Plus, billed as "a go-to platform for news and commentary" for paying subscribers. ZB Plus was off the ZB site months later - but his is the only media company experience among James Grenon's candidates. "Having worked in the same newsroom as Philip Crump, we do not believe he has the experience, ability, or mana to take on what would be an influential role," E tū's union representative Isaac Davison - also a senior Herald reporter - said in a letter to Grenon in mid-April. Philip Crump has claimed journalists should welcome many of their new ideas for NZME, such as restoring the NZ Herald's editor to NZME's executive leadership team. On his Substack, he published Six Challenges Undermining Media Trust "Addressing these issues requires not just critique but actionable reform," he wrote, but he has declined to be interviewed for Mediawatch about this until later this month. Former Herald editor Gavin Ellis reckoned the new chair Steven Joyce would be aware of the danger of editorial overreach. "The board has an important role, but the board also shouldn't be making individual decisions about individual items ... in the general course of events anyway," Steven Joyce said on Tuesday. "(Editorial advisory boards) are quite common internationally. It's an opportunity to debate and support the development of editorial policy. In every business, we can get very, very busy day to day - and journalism is one of those businesses - so it's that opportunity to test that thinking independently." "I can assure you that the board's view will be ... to try and enhance and strengthen the editorial offering of NZME - and not do anything else." Media Minister Paul Goldsmith appointed Philip Crump to the NZ On Air board recently. This week the minister told Newsroom he would take advice managing the conflict of interest arising from oversight of public funding for journalism. When Newsroom asked the minister if Crump could recuse himself from funding decisions he replied: "Anything related directly to journalism would be an obvious place to start." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
30-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Christchurch protesters confront Finance Minister Nicola Willis over pay equity
Protesters outside Addington Raceway, where Finance Minister Nicola Willis addressed business leaders. Photo: Nathan McKinnon/RNZ Protesters have rallied against the government's pay-equity legislation at a post-budget business lunch featuring Finance Minister Nicola Willis in Christchurch. About 50 people chanted, waved banners and flags, and yelled through megaphones, as Willis entered the Addington Raceway event centre to speak to Canterbury business leaders. Public Service Association delegate and library worker Sioniann Byrnes, who was on parental leave, said the changes were an attack on the working class. "The library assistant pay equity claim was one of the 33 that was basically stopped in it's tracks," she said. "I think what they've done is shafted a whole lot of people, who've done a lot of robust work to try and fix pay and equity that has been going on for a long time. Protesters make their voices heard. Photo: Nathan McKinnon/RNZ "I think it is frankly disgusting." Byrnes hoped her four-month-old daughter, whom she was holding at the time, would not have to deal with the issue of pay equity in future. E tū delegate Keri Makiri was concerned about the effect of the legislation on partner, two taimaiti (children) and four mokopuna (grandchildren). "The changes are absolutely diabolical and rip the hearts out of lower-paid workers," he said. New Zealand Nurses Organisation delegate and nurse Maree Vincent was rallying for not just the pay equity of nurses, but also for carers and support workers. "'We're back to square one," she said. "All we are asking is to be paid the same as our male counterparts in our jobs and the same as our nurses in our hospitals." Budget documents revealed the tightening of the pay-equity regime - passed under urgency in early May - would net the government $2.7 billion every year or $12.8 billion in total over the next four years. The pay-equity changes meant workers would face a higher threshold to prove they were underpaid , because of sex discrimination. Finance Minister Nicola Willis addresses Christchurch business leaders. Photo: Nathan McKinnon/RNZ Inside, Willis told the audience that the savings were significant. "The government remains committed to the concept of pay equity and, in fact, New Zealand continues to have a legislated, workable pay-equity regime for the raising of pay-equity claims and for the settlement of those claims. "The government itself continues to have funding put aside to settle claims we anticipate will come through in the future." Willis said the pay-equity regime had departed from addressing sex-based discrimination into issues that could be dealt with in normal bargaining rounds. "Without teaching you to suck eggs, pay equity is different from equal pay. Equal pay is that you and you, if you do the same job, should be paid the same amount. "That concept is protected in law and must always be." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Dunedin joins protest against pay equity law change
Hundreds of protesters braved wet weather in Dunedin to voice their outrage at the government's changes to the pay equity process. The Pay Equity Amendment Bill passed on Wednesday after being rushed through under urgency. Affected workers say they're "angry", "hurt" and "disappointed" and feel betrayed by the architect of the legislation, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden, but are determined to keep fighting. The legislation means 33 equity claims being negotiated will now have to restart the process under new criteria. Nationwide protests were taking place today. In Dunedin, members from unions across a variety of sectors including Etu, First Union, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and the Public Service Union gathered at the Exchange at 1.30pm to stand in solidarity against the overnight amendment to the Equal Pay Act. PSA organiser Jen Wilson said the rally was a fairly spontaneous uprising of anger and disgust by women and people who care about women. She could not believe the Pay Equity Amendment Bill was passed earlier this week. ''I was shocked.'' The changes were not about equity, but were about making cuts for the upcoming Budget, she argued. Speakers from unions and Labour MPs Ingrid Leary, the MP for Taieri, and Rachel Brooking, the MP for Dunedin, led chants. One system to deal with pay equity - PM It has been revealed the National Party leadership briefed its MPs two days in advance of the announcement to overhaul the pay equity system. While the party caucus was meeting at 10am on Tuesday - an hour before van Velden revealed the pay equity changes - Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis considered it significant enough to give its MPs more warning, RNZ has reported. Speaking to reporters at Parliament yesterday, Willis confirmed the Sunday briefing, saying officials had warned ministers of "legal risks" if the government had talked about its intentions to make changes to pay equity laws ahead of the new legislation being passed. Luxon told reporters today the reason the government fast-tracked the legislation was to make sure New Zealand has one system to deal with pay equity. He reiterated that the government was committed to pay equity, collective bargaining, equal pay and pay parity. "We expect equal pay between men and women doing the same jobs. The next thing is we expect pay parity - people doing the same jobs in different employers or different organisations should be the same. "Pay equity is an issue where you have women in particular, in female-dominated industries, looking to the value of the work that they do is akin to value that might be a different job done in a different industry or a different sector." There was nothing to stop anyone making a pay equity claim under the new legislation, Luxon said. Minister 'doesn't care about women' Today's protests were organised by the Public Service Association and included a demonstration outside van Velden's Tāmaki electorate office in Auckland. The government said the changes - which raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued to support a claim - are necessary to make the law more "fair". The new law will also "significantly reduce costs for the Crown." Support worker Kate Halsell told RNZ she's "really angry," "let down" and "disappointed" by the law change. "We were so close to getting to the end and getting this sorted, and then to be basically kicked in the guts and told you're going to be starting again, you're not worth anything." Halsell said the Minister behind the changes "doesn't care about any woman. Doesn't matter the job, she doesn't care". She was frustrated people don't "see what we do". "I don't see them going out there and holding the hands of people who are dying, giving them their last respect so they can be at home. "I don't see them going into a house where a guy who's just become a paraplegic or a tetraplegic, and they're angry and they're upset, and they finally got home, and the reality of life really hits in - we deal with that. "We walk in and make sure, hey, you're washed, you're dressed, you had your medication, you got your food." Halsell said achieving pay equity would have made a material difference. "It means better food on the table. I can have heat in my house 24/7. I can actually get my car fixed properly. I can buy a new car." She would have been protesting today "with bells on", but had to work. The nurses' union had at least 10 pay equity claims in play this year. Registered nurse Andrea Burton was also "disappointed" and "angry", but most of all, she said, "I felt sad." Burton said it felt like a "betrayal" that it was a woman who made the decision, referencing the Minister van Velden, a member of the Act party. The thought of having to start the whole claim process over again was "wearing" but the fight will continue, she said. "Of course, we're all willing to continue to fight. We're not going to let her keep us down. We've done it before. We'll do it again." - additional reporting by RNZ
Otago Daily Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Dunedin joins protest against equity law change
Hundreds of protesters braved wet weather in Dunedin to voice their outrage at the government's changes to the pay equity process. The Pay Equity Amendment Bill passed on Wednesday after being rushed through under urgency. Affected workers say they're "angry", "hurt" and "disappointed" and feel betrayed by the architect of the legislation, the Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden but are determined to keep fighting. The legislation means 33 equity claims being negotiated will now have to restart the process under new criteria. Nationwide protests are taking place today. In Dunedin, members from unions across a variety of sectors including Etu, First Union, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and the Public Service Union gathered at the Exchange at 1.30pm to stand in solidarity against the overnight amendment to the Equal Pay Act. PSA organiser Jen Wilson said the rally was a fairly spontaneous uprising of anger and disgust by women and people who care about women. She could not believe the Pay Equity Amendment Bill was passed on Wednesday. ''I was shocked.'' The changes were not about equity and were about making cuts for the upcoming Budget, she argued. Speakers from the unions and Dunedin-based Labour MPs Ingrid Leary and Rachel Brooking led chants. It has been revealed the National Party leadership briefed its MPs two days in advance of the announcement to overhaul the pay equity system. While the party caucus was meeting at 10am on Tuesday - an hour before van Velden revealed the pay equity changes - Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis considered it significant enough to give its MPs more warning. Speaking to reporters at Parliament yesterday, Willis confirmed the Sunday briefing, and said officials had warned ministers of "legal risks" if the government had talked about its intentions to make changes to pay equity laws ahead of the new legislation being passed. Luxon told reporters today the reason the government fast-tracked the pay equity legislation is to make sure New Zealand has one system to deal with pay equity. He reiterated that the government is committed to pay equity, collective bargaining, equal pay and pay parity. "We expect equal pay between men and women doing the same jobs. "The next thing is we expect pay parity - people doing the same jobs in different employers or different organisations should be the same. "Pay equity is an issue where you have women in particular, in female-dominated industries, looking to the value of the work that they do is akin to value that might be a different job done in a different industry or a different sector." He says there was nothing to stop anyone making a pay equity claim under the new legislation. Minister 'doesn't care about women' Today's protests have been organised by the Public Service Association and include a demonstration outside van Velden's Tāmaki electorate office in Auckland. The government said the changes - which raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued to support a claim - are necessary to make the law more "fair". The new law will also "significantly reduce costs for the Crown." Support worker Kate Halsell told RNZ she's "really angry," "let down" and "disappointed" by the law change. "We were so close to getting to the end and getting this sorted, and then to be basically kicked in the guts and told you're going to be starting again, you're not worth anything." Halsell said the Minister behind the changes "doesn't care about any woman. Doesn't matter the job, she doesn't care". She was frustrated people don't "see what we do". "I don't see them going out there and holding the hands of people who are dying, giving them their last respect so they can be at home. "I don't see them going into a house where a guy who's just become a paraplegic or a tetraplegic, and they're angry and they're upset, and they finally got home, and the reality of life really hits in - we deal with that. "We walk in and make sure, hey, you're washed, you're dressed, you had your medication, you got your food." Halsell said achieving pay equity would have made a material difference. "It means better food on the table. I can have heat in my house 24/7. I can actually get my car fixed properly. I can buy a new car." She would have been protesting today "with bells on", but had to work. The nurses' union had at least 10 pay equity claims in play this year. Registered nurse Andrea Burton was also "disappointed" and "angry", but most of all, she said "I felt sad." Burton said it felt like a "betrayal" that it was a woman who made the decision, referencing the Minister van Velden, a member of the Act party. The thought of having to start the whole claim process over again was "wearing" but the fight will continue, she said. "Of course, we're all willing to continue to fight. We're not going to let her keep us down. We've done it before. We'll do it again." - additional reporting by RNZ
