Chinese bid £5bn for UK oil explorer

Sinopec, the Chinese state oil group, has made an audacious £4.8bn bid for Addax Petroleum, a UK-listed group with fields in Iraqi Kurdistan and Nigeria, report the Times. Sinopec is understood to have tabled the indicative offer last week, trumping an earlier bid by the Korean National Oil Corporation. The FT adds that much is now up to Jean-Claude Gandur, president and CEO of Addax, who has a say in the votes of almost 40% of the shares.