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Opinion

Elizabeth Knight Business columnist September 18, 2025 — 2.29pm

Friday was meant to be a historic day – the signing of the country’s largest-ever cash takeover . Instead, the minutes-to-midnight withdrawal of the giant Emirati buyer for oil and gas producer Santos will join the history books as an unnatural disaster.

The finale to this saga has left a trail of unhappy campers, a bitter aftertaste for all involved, and plenty of questions to be answered.

Now we have entered the blame game period.

First there is the bidder, a consortium led by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, which despite putting on a happy front is privately seething about the conduct of Santos and its takeover path, which it found littered with hidden

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