SKW Skiddaw

RNS Number:8381Z
Skiddaw Capital Inc
16 June 2004


                              Skiddaw Capital Inc.
                 Acquisition of interests in Oil and Gas Assets
                   Completion of strategically important deal

Wednesday June 16th 2004

Skiddaw Capital Inc. (Company) has today acquired, through its subsidiary Crosby
Capital Partners (BVI) Limited, interests in a variety of oil and gas assets in
Pakistan, the Middle East and the United States of America.

The Company's London and Hong Kong based investment banking and asset management
group (Crosby) has secured, through its 75 per cent. owned and controlled
subsidiary Sunov Petroleum Pty Limited (Sunov), interests in various onshore and
offshore oil and gas assets of Novus Petroleum Limited, the Australian upstream
oil and gas company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (Novus). Crosby
acquired these contractual interests following the acquisition by PT Medco
Energi Internasional Tbk (Medco) of a 50.1 per cent. controlling stake in Novus
pursuant to its unconditional offer for Novus.

Crosby's specific interests are:

   *US based oil and gas assets currently owned by Novus, including producing
    gas fields in Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico, and substantial development
    and exploration assets in the same areas including Padre Island. The proven
    and probable gas reserves of these assets are approximately 200bcf (billion
    cubic feet of gas) equivalent, according to the most recent independent
    reserve audit undertaken by Gaffney, Cline & Associates Pty Limited in
    January 2004, as part of an overall valuation exercise completed by Grant
    Samuel on behalf of the independent directors of Novus. Crosby's interests
    are derived from Sunov's entitlement, through a special purpose fund, to a
    35 per cent. participation in any proceeds from the sale of the US assets
    above a certain benchmark;

   *a 100 per cent. interest in the Pakistani assets of Novus, which will be
    triggered once Medco attains a 90 per cent. acceptance level in its
    unconditional offer for Novus. Medco currently has a declared level of
    acceptances of just over 79 per cent. The Pakistani assets have proven and
    probable reserves of over 40 bcf equivalent according to the Gaffney Cline
    report mentioned above; and

   *Novus's Middle Eastern assets which include over 20,000 sq km of acreage
    in one of the most proliferous petrocarbon producing areas of the region.
    Sunov is the significant majority interest holder in an option to acquire up
    to 49 per cent. of these assets at a price that values Novus' Middle Eastern
    assets at US$65 million.

Simon Fry, CEO of the Company commented, "At this early stage it is difficult to
be precise about the likely impact on our bottom line. We will be providing the
market with further details as soon as they become available."

He added "I am personally very pleased to be able to provide our new
shareholders with evidence of the potential that exists for merchant banking
deals executed by small, independent firms. We have a strong presence in the Oil
and Gas sector in Asia, and Sunov's interests in managing these diverse assets
will provide us with a source of collateral business for some time to come."


About Crosby

Crosby is an independent investment bank and asset management group with dual
headquarters in Hong Kong and London. Crosby has been providing capital raising,
merger and acquisition, restructuring, corporate finance and strategic advisory
services for clients across the Asia-Pacific region since 1984. Crosby's
extensive cross-border expertise and comprehensive Asian network enable it to
offer clients a "bulge bracket" standard of investment banking and innovative
asset management services.

www.crosby.com

For more information contact
Ilyas Khan, Hong Kong +852.2169.2881
Nicola Poole London +44 207 590 2800




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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