Profile: Reality bites for Dana Gas after hype of 2005 IPO


There must have been a collective sigh of relief around the Jafar family dining table on 23 April, when Dana Gas shareholders finally approved a debt refinancing deal, announced late last year after tough negotiations with creditors. Launched to much fanfare in 2005, the Sharjah-based company – founded by Hamid Jafar’s Crescent Petroleum – has faced many hurdles in the past eight years, and its share price has plummeted from the heady days that followed its IPO. In October 2012, Dana failed to settle a five-year $1bn sukuk, after massive payment delays in Egypt and Iraqi Kurdistan. At the end of March, Egypt owed Dana Dh866m ($236m) for gas supplies; in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) area, where it operates in partnership with Crescent and two smaller shareholders, it was owed Dh1, 389m.