Genel Raises Capricorn Bid to $436m, Beats DNO Offer
Genel Energy has increased its cash offer for Capricorn Energy to $436m, topping a rival bid from Norway’s DNO and winning back the target board’s recommendation after months of a three-way bidding war.
Genel Energy (LON: GENL), the London-based oil producer with assets in Iraqi Kurdistan, has raised its offer for Capricorn Energy (LON: CNE) to $436m, a 10% premium to a rival bid from Norway’s DNO ASA, a Norwegian oil and gas producer. Capricorn, an Edinburgh-based producer of oil and gas from Egypt’s Western Desert, confirmed earlier today that its board has switched its recommendation back to Genel.
Under the increased offer, Capricorn shareholders would receive $5.74 a share in total, made up of $4.75 in cash plus a $0.99 special dividend, valuing the company at roughly £330m at the exchange rate stated in the announcement. Capricorn shares closed at 388p yesterday.
The increased offer is the latest turn in a bidding war that began on the 2nd of July, when Genel first agreed to buy Capricorn for around $360m, a deal shareholders approved the following month. DNO gate-crashed the process in September, first bidding $396m, then revising its offer on the 17th of September to an all-cash structure worth $5.214 a share, which won Capricorn’s board recommendation and displaced Genel.
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The escalating bidding war for Capricorn Energy: Genel’s original offer, DNO’s revised bid, and Genel’s increased offer, 2 July – 25 September 2026.
Genel’s return with a higher offer is now heavily locked in. Bidco, Genel’s takeover vehicle, has secured revised irrevocable undertakings from major shareholders Palliser Capital, Newtyn Management, Kite Lake Capital and Madison Avenue Partners, together holding about 39.1% of Capricorn’s shares, binding them against any rival offer unless it tops Genel’s by 10% or more. The Egyptian Competition Authority, the regulator whose approval was the last major hurdle, cleared the deal on the 7th of September.
The Capricorn Directors believe that the Increased Offer provides Capricorn Shareholders with superior value, certainty and deliverability relative to the DNO Offer.
Capricorn Directors
Capricorn’s directors intend to adjourn the court and general meetings tied to the DNO offer, previously scheduled for the 16th of October, with the Genel scheme now expected to complete during the fourth quarter.
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