Hurricane Energy has confirmed it is up for sale in the wake of an unsolicited offer to buy the company.

The North Sea operator received an indicative offer pitched at 7.7p per share but will not be recommended to shareholders. The unsolicited offer represented a premium of 13% to the Hurricane price on 1 November.

In a statement it said it is in a “very strong financial and operational position” but its cornerstone private-equity backer (which owns 28.9% of the company) has indicated that it wants to “monetise the value of its shareholding”.

Hurricane said the formal sale process will seek to “establish whether there is a bidder prepared to offer a value that the board considers attractive, relative to the standalone prospects of Hurricane as a publicly traded company and accordingly one that should be recommended to all shareholders”.

If the company is not sold, Hurricane it will alternatively launch a significant capital return programme and indicated that up to US$70m (3.1p per share) will be returned to shareholders in the first quarter of 2023.

“The board intends to deliver near term shareholder returns through either the successful outcome of the formal sale process or with a substantial capital return programme,” said Hurricane chair Philip Wolfe.

“Hurricane is in a strong position with an experienced senior team, robust balance sheet, profitable ongoing production and significant tax losses – a platform capable of supporting distributions throughout Lancaster’s expected economically productive life.

“We look forward to updating shareholders in due course.”