Ithaca Energy’s $309 million takeover of Valiant Petroleum is set to become official on Friday after the explorers gained court sanction for the deal.

Ithaca Energy said that the High Court of England and Wales had now approved the reduction of capital scheme required to complete the takeover.

The explorer said that once it had notified the registrar of companies last month’s deal would become effective.

Valiant Petroleum has de-listed from London’s Alternative Investments Market, and the newly-combined entity is expected to rejoin AIM on Monday.

Ithaca Energy has also gained conditional approval from Toronto for changes to its TSX listing.

The acquisition adds a number of assets to Ithaca Energy’s portfolio in the UK and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea.

It will also double the company’s current forecast production for this year to 14,000 to 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, mostly oil, that is expected to surge to about 27,000 boepd by 2015.

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