Valiant Finalizes Sagex Deal, Reports Drilling Date for License P471

- Valiant Finalizes Sagex Deal, Reports Drilling Date for License P471

Friday, June 17, 2011
Valiant Petroleum plc

Valiant provided the following update with regard to its offer to the shareholders of Sagex to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Sagex for a total consideration of NOK 64.1 million (£7.1 million).

As at the close of the Offer on June 10, 2011 Valiant had received acceptances in excess of 94% of the total number of voting shares in Sagex on a fully diluted basis, significantly in excess of the two thirds acceptance condition. Working in close collaboration, Valiant and Sagex have also made progress on seeking all necessary corporate, third party and regulatory consents, which remain key conditions to the Offer. Valiant remains confident that the transaction will reach completion ahead of the long stop date of August 31, 2011.

Reflecting the significant progress on moving the Offer towards completion, an interim board of directors of Sagex was elected via an Extraordinary General Meeting on June 14, 2011 comprising representatives of two of Sagex's major shareholders and Sandy Shaw, an executive director of Valiant.

Valiant has also been informed by Sagex that the first of its two planned Norwegian exploration wells is anticipated to commence operations on License P471 by early August 2011. The well will be drilled by the Borgland Dolphin semi-submersible rig and target Chamonix, a potentially large Cretaceous stratigraphic prospect, and the secondary Cortina target of Jurassic age. Sagex holds a 20% working interest and the license partners are OMV (50%, operator) and Noreco (30%).

Further updates on the Offer will be provided in due course.

Peter Buchanan, CEO of Valiant, commented, "We would like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Sagex board of directors for their hard work and professionalism over the past few months, which has made Valiant's offer for Sagex possible. We look forward to working towards successful completion of the Offer with both Sagex's management team and new board of directors."

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