KNOC closes in on Dana with final 1800p offer

It looked all over for Dana Petroleum as hostile bidder Korean National Oil Corp declared today that it will not raise its 1800p a share offer.

Dana shares crashed 21p to 1788p leaving them below the bid price for the first time since KNOC launched its hostile approach three weeks ago.

The fall means that the Koreans are now free to buy shares in the market which would enable KNOC to nudge it acceptance levels for the bid up from 49% to more than 50% with ease. But there were no immediate signs of its adviser Bank of America Merrill Lynch buying up shares in the market.

Oil analysts at broker Collins Stewart said that the lack of positive share-price reaction to Dana's defence document yesterday and KNOC's decision to declare its offer "full and final" meant that there "is a high probability that the offer will be successful".