Herbert Smith continued assisting Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp’s (SIPC) acquisition of Australia Pacific LNG Pty Ltd (APLNG), and advised on the latter’s additional $1.1 billion equity investment to increase its stake by 10 percent.

SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese petrochemical giant Sinopec Group, will now hold a total stake of 25 percent in APLNG, while the ownership interests of ConocoPhillips and Origin Energy in the Australian company get reduced to 37.5 percent each.

APLNG is the leading producer of coal seam gas (CSG) in Australia, and holds the country's largest CSG reserves. SIPC first acquired 15 percent shares of APLNG in August 2011, which was also advised by Herbert Smith.

The Herbert Smith team that worked on the latest deal was led by the Hong Kong-based head of the firm’s Asia energy practice Anna Howell. SIPC's Australian counsel in this transaction was commercial law firm Blake Dawson.  Australia Pacific LNG Pty Ltd was advised by Australian commercial and business law firm Clayton Utz.

"The successful signing of this additional acquisition is significant for both Sinopec Group and Australia Pacific LNG.  China's oil and gas NOCs have emerged as confident players in global upstream merger and acquisition transactions. We are delighted to continue playing an important role in their activities," said Howell in a statement.

The subscription agreement, signed on Jan. 20, 2012, is subject to approvals by the Chinese government and the Foreign Investment Review Board in Australia. ALB

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