Sinopec, KNOC, battled to swallow the most aggressive indie in West Africa

Sinopec, the Chinese state behemoth, has beaten the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), to the takeover of Swiss owned independent  Addax Petroleum. The two government owned companies from south east Asia came up with bids valuing the company at more than $7 billion, including debt.
Sinopec is set to pay $7.24 billion for Addax Petroleum, after the Toronto listed outfit agreed to the Chinese giant’s $46.2 per share takeover offer, a  47% premium to Addax’s closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange on  June 5, the day before it announced it was in talks with a number of companies regarding a potential takeover.
As Addax has focused almost exclusively on Nigeria, for most of its 10 years on the continent, the takeover will be most meaningful in this West African country, where Sinopec itself has some assets. Addax has, in the last three years, also ventured farther along the Gulf of Guinea fairway, into Gabon, Cameroon as well as the Nigeria/SaoTome Joint Development zone, where it partners Sinopec in one block.
In 2008, Addax commenced operations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
KNOC may have come to discover the value of Addax  since it (KNOC) became a player in Nigeria in 2006, or in Kurdistan, where it (KNOC) also has assets. 
KNOC has had a rough patch operating in Nigeria; earlier in 2009, its licences in two deepwater leases were revoked, allegedly for deviating from the terms of the permit. The case is currently in court. A takeover of Addax could have more than compensated: Addax..... details in www.africaoilgasreport.com