This article is 18 years old. Images might not display.
Odin, which is focused in the Cooper Basin, told the market on Friday that it had acquired about 24.5 million shares, or 10%, of VicPet’s issued capital with a view to replacing the company’s board of directors, among them founding managing director John Kopcheff.
“We believe there is an exceptional opportunity to release the value in [VicPet], concentrate on producing assets and in turn increase the value provided to shareholders,” Odin managing director Andrew Dimsey said.
“In order to release the value we have requested a general meeting of [VicPet] be called to amend the control of the board.”
Odin’s move on VicPet comes a week after Impress Energy chairman Eddie Smith and a non-executive director of Australian Worldwide Exploration sent a letter to a number of VicPet shareholders soliciting support to call a general meeting in order to replace the board.
Smith, who holds 3 million shares in the company, is calling for the appointment of himself, Geoffrey Gander and James Crawford as directors of VicPet and the removal of the current board, comprising John Kopcheff, Robert Pett, Bernard Wrixon and Timothy Lee Hoops.
Then this week, Smith sent VicPet a letter calling on the company to set a date for shareholders to vote on the proposal within the next three weeks.
Meanwhile, Odin said it believed that VicPet would benefit from its input.
“By resourcing the company with a board, management and technical team who possess the requisite skills and experience, [VicPet] has the opportunity to put the strategies in place to realise the value of its assets and concentrate on its core business in the Cooper Basin,” Dimsey said.
To achieve this, Odin said it would review VicPet’s portfolio to identify any under-performing assets and steer the company to instead focus on its Cooper Basin acreage.
Odin listed on the Australian Securities Exchange last September, having raised $18 million to fund its share of work in the Spinel Block of PEL 106, operated by Great Artesian Oil and Gas.
In its prospectus, the company said it planned to establish commercial production and early cash flows, and was looking at more acquisitions, joint ventures and investments in the region.
