07:53 AM EST, 12/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Vitesse Energy entered Monday into a definitive agreement to acquire Lucero Energy ( PSHIF ) in an all-stock transaction with a fully diluted equity value of US$222 million.

Each outstanding common share of Lucero will be exchanged for 0.01239 of a share of Vitesse common stock, with approximately 8,175,000 shares of common stock expected to be issued at closing. After closing, existing Vitesse stockholders are expected to own approximately 80% and existing Lucero shareholders are expected to own approximately 20% of the company on a fully diluted basis.

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The transaction is expected to close by the second quarter of 2025. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions in the United States and Canada, as well as the approvals by Vitesse's and Lucero's shareholders.

Vitesse said the addition of Lucero's operations will provide additional scale to its assets across the Bakken, where Lucero had approximately 6.4 Mboe per day of two-stream net production during the third quarter of 2024. Lucero had no outstanding debt and US$56 million of cash as of September 30, 2024, and Vitesse expects to use a portion of the cash held by Lucero at closing to reduce outstanding borrowings under Vitesse's revolving credit facility. Vitesse is targeting about US$3 million of general and administrative synergies annually.

Lucero last closed up $0.01 at $0.47.