Despite having undertaken minimal work within its five projects over the past two years, with just one well in the Rocky Mountains funded by partner Treasure Exploration which hasn't even been tested yet, the offer arrived this week from private US oil company, the Colorado-based Edward Mike Davis LLC, a company associated with infamous oil field executive "Tiger" Mike Davis.
APOG CEO Alexis Clark said he was pleased by the approach for the portfolio, which includes Northern Star in the Rockies, and four other projects in Montana, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado, and said it demonstrated the quality of the portfolio and validated the company's strategy, particularly in the challenging market environment.
"However, we believe this offer is opportunistic in the current oil price environment and substantially undervalues the potential value of [the] assets," he said this morning.
Clark said the board had decided to reject the offer, which is almost three times the company's $10 million market capitalisation and the $8 million raised from its initial public offer, feeling that upcoming testing of the first Montana well and drilling of a second horizontal well funded by Treasure would de-risk the assets further, and eventually lead to higher offer price for the assets.
"American Patriot's business model continues to be robust, even during volatile oil markets," he said.
"We will continue to focus on delivering on this model for our shareholders and to grow the business by looking for quality, low cost, early entry acreage plays.
"We will also look to maximise value and protect shareholder funds by entering into joint ventures with high quality US operators who pay for the drilling costs on our projects.
"The current low oil price environment represents a great opportunity to acquire valuable acreage in the USA.
"Our business plan is straightforward. We lease acreage at low cost, prove it as a resource project and then look to sell it for a multiple of the entry price."
The company aims to return the capital to shareholders as a special distribution when a sale goes through, he said.
The purchaser was founded in 2002 by "Tiger" Mike, the legendary CEO of the Houston-based Tiger Oil Company, which declared bankruptcy in 1980.
The Tiger memos are infamous for their unique, micro-managing, aggressive tone.
One from 1978 read: "Do not speak to me when you see me. If I want to speak to you, I will do so. I want to save my throat. I don't want to ruin it by saying hello to all of you sons-of-b…s."
Another: "Idle conversation and gossip in this office among employees will result in immediate termination. … DO YOUR JOB AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!"
In 2013 comedian Will Ferrell was considering making a movie based on the memos.
American Patriot's shares were up 25% to $0.175 this morning.
