Why $30 billion sale of Australian company fell through

Thursday, 18 September 2025 10:46

Santos said they had expressed concerns to the consortium surrounding delays in the takeover.

A Middle Eastern consortium has pulled the plug on a $36.4 billion offer to buy Australian oil and gas giant Santos.

The decision was announced by XRG, an investment company which is also a vehicle for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

"A combination of factors, when considered collectively, have impacted the consortium's assessment of its indicative offer," a statement on the company's website read.

Santos' headquarters in Adelaide, Australia.

The takeover bid had been in progress for months, beginning in March, however delays in the past two months had raised concerns that the bid would not eventuate after all.

The failure to reach a deal comes a day before Santos's September 19 deadline for a binding takeover to be completed. The price was trimmed to $US5.626 ($8.46) after the payment of an interim dividend by Santos.

In its own statement, Santos said it had expressed concerns to the consortium surrounding the delays.

"The Santos board had expressed its concern to the XRG consortium about delays in agreeing to the SIA (scheme implementation agreement)", the company said.

"The XRG Consortium would not agree to acceptable terms which protected the value of the potential transaction for Santos shareholders."

It is unknown exactly what factors about Santos' business led to the consortium stepping away from the multibillion-dollar deal.

XRG was created by The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, of which Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber is the group chief executive.

Al-Jaber is also the United Arab Emirates' minister of industry and advanced technology and the nation's special envoy for climate. It is understood that any deal for Santos needed his tick of approval.

Part of Abu Dhabi, UAE with surrounding area viewed from the helicopter. Many details are visible in the image.

Santos is an oil and gas company, which is based in Adelaide.

It is the biggest supplier of natural gas in Australia and also maintains a large presence in Asia.

In its latest profit result for full-year 2024, posted in August, Santos's profit slid 31 per cent to $US439 million on sales that dipped 5 per cent to $US2.58 billion.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.