Dana Gas to hire Linklaters for debt deal

Investors in Dana Gas’s US$1bn Islamic bonds hired Linklaters to help negotiate the restructuring of the debt due in October, three people familiar with the matter said. The London-based law firm was hired last month, according to the people who declined to be identified because the information is private. Linklaters declined to comment when contacted today and the outside public relations company for Dana Gas did not respond to questions sent yesterday. The company, whose CEO plans to retire this year, hired Blackstone Group to advise on restructuring the Islamic bonds, three people familiar with the matter said in April. Deutsche Bank is also advising Dana Gas, two people with knowledge of the matter said in January. The yield on its 7.5 percent sukuk climbed 33 percentage points so far this year to 70.7 percent at 4:35 pm in Dubai. While the Sharjah, UAE-based company, which produces and explores for oil and gas in Egypt and Iraq’s Kurdish region, has said it will repay the sukuk, investors haven’t been informed how the company plans to do so, Atul Gharde, a Hong Kong-based credit analyst at SJS Markets, said today. Dana Gas, whose parent Crescent Petroleum owns 3 percent of Hungarian refiner Mol, said January 17 it would continue to meet debt obligations and appointed an unidentified financial adviser. The company repeated the commitment to settle financial obligations in a March 20 report filed to the Abu Dhabi stock exchange. Money owed by customers almost doubled last year to US$501m from US$255m, Dana Gas said in March. The company said US$212m of the total was owed for more than four months. CEO Ahmed Al Arbeed plans to retire in September and remain a board member, the company said last month. Shareholders will elect a board May 31, it said this week. The shares of Dana Gas have dropped 4.4 percent so far this year to 43 fils. Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index climbed 3.5 percent in the same period.