Pursuant to the goal of merging their businesses into a Scandinavian oil giant, Statoil and Hydro have completed a value verification process, marking the achievement of significant progress in the process.
The intention of the review has been to verify the information exchanged between the parties prior to the conclusion of the agreement.
Initially Statoil’s net interest-bearing debt was estimated to be NOK14.3 billion at the end of 2006. Following the detailed valuation review, it is now expected that Statoil’s net interest-bearing debt will be NOK24 to NOK25 billion. According to Statoil, the main reason for this change is associated with fluctuations in the working capital.
Based on an overall assessment of the above mentioned and other aspects, the parties agree to set the net interest-bearing debt for Hydro’s oil and gas activities at December 31, 2006 at NOK1 billion, and not zero, as when the agreement was announced.
Apart from the above, all terms and conditions of the merger agreement remain unchanged and are not conditional on any further value verification.