Wintershall makes offer to acquire Revus Energy ASA

* Cash offer of NOK 110 per share or EUR 581 million in total provides attractive premium
* Revus Energy ASA’s Board of Directors supports offer
* Acquisition strengthens the activities of Wintershall in Norway significantly and opens further growth potential in its core region North West Europe


Kassel. Wintershall Holding Aktiengesellschaft (“Wintershall”) today (October 27, 2008) announces that it plans to acquire Revus Energy ASA, Stavanger, Norway (“Revus”), an oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with shares in 60 licenses in Norway and Great Britain, by making, through its wholly owned subsidiary Wintershall Norwegen Explorations- und Produktions-GmbH, a voluntary offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Revus for NOK 110 per share. The purchase price of the proposed transaction amounts to approximately EUR 581 million.

Wintershall and Revus have reached a transaction agreement in which the Board of Directors of Revus supports Wintershall’s offer and recommends its acceptance to Revus’s shareholders. The offer price represents a 145 percent premium compared to the closing share price on October 24, 2008 (the last trading day prior to this announcement) and a 44 percent premium to the average share price for the last 6 months of NOK 76.21.

Wintershall considers the all cash offer to be an attractive premium on Revus’s current share price and for Revus’s shareholders.

The acquisition of Revus represents an excellent strategic fit with the activities of Wintershall, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF SE.

“With its high quality development and exploration portfolio Revus strongly improves Wintershall’s asset base in the North Sea, especially in Norway. The activities of Revus lie in a politically and economically stable environment and geographically balance Wintershall’s portfolio. We are impressed by the strong geological know-how of Revus’s employees and we will retain these strengths to ensure further growth”, says Reinier Zwitserloot, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Wintershall. “Our attractive cash offer gives Revus’s shareholders the opportunity to realize the full value of their investment plus an attractive premium immediately”, Zwitserloot adds.

“The acquisition combines Wintershall’s North Sea offshore expertise with Revus‘s excellent understanding and proven track record on the Norwegian and UK continental shelves with significant potential for further organic growth and investment opportunities in Norway”, underlines Harald Vabø, Chief Executive Officer of Revus Energy ASA.

The offer is based on a completed confirmatory due diligence to the satisfaction of Wintershall and will be presented in an offer document complying with the requirements of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. The offer document will be submitted to the Oslo Stock Exchange for approval before being circulated to all of Revus’s shareholders. The offer will be subject to conditions for acceptance from more than 90 percent of the shares in Revus, approvals from relevant authorities, including competition authorities as well as further necessary third party consents, no material adverse change up until the expiry of the offer period and other customary conditions respectively. The complete details of the offer, including all terms and conditions, will be included in the offer document, which is expected to be sent to Revus’s shareholders during the week of November 10, 2008.

Revus’s Board of Directors has unanimously recommended that its shareholders accept the offer. The formal recommendation from the Board of Directors will be made public through the Oslo Stock Exchange in accordance with the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Wintershall currently has obtained pre-acceptances of the offer for 26.6 percent of the shares in Revus whereby said shareholders have undertaken to accept the offer unless a higher offer is presented and Wintershall elects not to match such competing offer within three trading days.

About Wintershall

Wintershall, based in Kassel, Germany, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF SE in Ludwigshafen. The company has been active in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas for over 75 years. Wintershall focuses on selected core regions, where the company has built up a high level of regional and technological expertise. These are Europe, North Africa, South America, as well as Russia and the Caspian Sea region. Today the company is Germany’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas and with its subsidiary, WINGAS, it is also an important gas supplier on the German and European markets.

About BASF

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from oil and gas to chemicals, plastics, performance products, agricultural products and fine chemicals. As a reliable partner BASF helps its customers in virtually all industries to be more successful. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF has more than 95,000 employees and posted sales of almost EUR 58 billion in 2007. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

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