Pacific Exploration & Production Shareholders Move to Block Buyout Bid

By Sara Schaefer Muñoz 

BOGOTA--Shareholders of troubled Canadian-Colombian oil firm Pacific Exploration & Production Corp. have asked Colombia's markets regulator to block a possible buyout deal they say favors management over investors, heating up the battle over the struggling company's assets.

Led by O'Hara Administration Co., which owns a 20% stake in Pacific, the shareholder group filed a formal complaint with the regulator, alleging that an offer by private-equity fund Catalyst Capital Group in Toronto benefits Pacific's co-chairmen but leaves shareholders with nothing, according to two people familiar with the talks.

Pacific Exploration, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange but has most of its assets in Colombia, has been hit hard by falling oil prices and a lack of new discoveries.

In addition to Catalyst, Pacific has received offers from Mexican conglomerate Alfa SAB de CV and U.S. energy investment firm EIG.

A committee appointed to review offers will present its recommendations Sunday and is expected to back the Catalyst bid, these people said.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 08, 2016 20:37 ET (00:37 GMT)

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