FAR Ltd said on Wednesday it received a non-binding, indicative takeover offer from Russian energy company PJSC Lukoil, valuing the Australian oil and gas explorer at A$220 million ($170.37 million).
Lukoil offered 2.2 Australian cents in cash per share, double FAR's last close price and higher than the 2.1 cents a share offered by private investment firm Remus Horizons PCC Ltd in December.
Lukoil's offer comes months after its bid to enter Senegal by buying Cairn Energy's stake in the Sangomar oil project was derailed by Woodside Petroleum, which exercised its right to match the $400 million offer.
Woodside had said at the time that it wanted to remove potential uncertainty arising from Lukoil being on a U.S. list of sanctioned Russian firms, including for transactions related to deepwater oil projects.
FAR said the Russian company was open to providing financial support to help it come out of default in relation to its Rufisque Offshore, Sangomar Offshore and Sangomar Deep Offshore (RSSD) project in Senegal.
It will postpone this week's shareholder vote on the proposed stake sale in the Sangomar project to a later date.
Lukoil does not believe it requires approval from Australia's Foreign investment Review Board or any other regulatory bodies for the proposed deal, FAR said.
($1 = 1.2913 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Subhranshu Sahu)
