San Leon Energy has bought Aurelian Oil and Gas with an issue of new shares to create the biggest foreign holder of shale licences in Poland, sending the company’s stock down by the most in almost five months.

San Leon will pay about £61.6 million (€77m) in stock for Aurelian, a 13 per cent premium to last week’s closing price, the Dublin-based company said in London. Aurelian investors will hold 34 per cent of the enlarged company.

Prospects for finding commercial shale gas in Poland prompted ConocoPhillips to buy a stake in licences in the western Baltic Basin this year. – Bloomberg