Cairn Energy's Director of Operations pockets shares

Phil Dolan, Cairn Energy's Director of Operations, has bought up 50,000 shares in the firm one day after the oil and gas giant gave details of the long-awaited $3.5bn it intends to return to its lucky shareholders.

Dolan purchased the shares at £2.787 each.

The pay-out news came after Cairn's $5.5bn sale of a 30% stake in its Indian business to Vedanta Resources for $4.1bn, which in turn followed on an earlier sale of a 10% stake for $1.4bn.

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The return of cash will take place as a 'B' share scheme which will give UK tax-payers the chance to receive cash in the form of income or capital, or a blend of both. UK shareholders will have the following three choices, they can: either receive a single dividend of 160p per B share; elect to have their B shares purchased at 160p per share; or elect to sell such B shares at 160p per B share at some point in the future, keeping hold of them for the time being.

The news prompted Oriel to upgrade the stock from hold to add on Tuesday.

The firm has lost 36% of its share price over the past year, but has gained nearly 10% in the past year.

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