Oil and gas producer Harvest Natural Resources Inc said it was in exclusive talks to sell itself to Argentina's Pluspetrol in a deal valued at about $373 million including debt.Shares of Harvest, which had a market value of $164 million as of Tuesday close, jumped 34 percent in premarket trading.Pluspetrol plans to retain Harvest's 32 percent interest in Petrodelta SA, a joint venture between Harvest and Venezuela's state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA, and spin off the company's other assets to Harvest's shareholders.Harvest's non-Venezuelan assets, which include interests in Gabon, Indonesia, Colombia and China, will be managed by its current management under a newly created company.
Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. is a petroleum exploration and production company engaged in the exploration, development and production of properties in geological basins with proven active hydrocarbon systems. Shares of HNR remained unchanged at $4.15. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $2.45 and as high as $10.83. On average, 542586 shares of HNR exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 31505.
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