MEG Energy has delayed a shareholder vote on the proposed takeover of the company by sector player Cenovus, after a regulatory inquiry prompted the target company to provide additional information.
Media quoting the chairman of MEG Energy’s board reported that the decision to postpone the vote was made with the knowledge of Cenovus and that the information requested by regulators concerned a transaction between Cenovus and its rival in the bidding for MEG Energy, Strathcona.
The transaction, Reuters reported, concerns Cenovus’ Vawn thermal oil production facility in Saskatchewan, which Strathcona agreed to buy along with several undeveloped assets in the same province and in Alberta. The acquisition will ensure that Strathcona will vote in favor of the Cenovus takeover. Until recently, the company, which owns 14.2% in MEG Energy, said it would vote against the rival bid.
Cenovus said in August it had entered into a definitive arrangement agreement to acquire MEG Energy Corp in a cash and stock deal valued at US$5.7 billion (C$7.9 billion), including assumed debt. The agreement between Cenovus and MEG marks the end of a months-long saga in which suitors have sought to buy MEG Energy.
Later, Cenovus sweetened the bid to win the approval of MEG Energy’s leadership had shareholders, offering some $6.2 billion, or C$8.6 billion for the company. Then it had to sweeten it again, raising the per-share offer from $21.37 to $29.80, and adjusting the mix to an even split of cash and stock. Also, Cenovus gave shareholders the choice of getting cash for their MEG stock or shares in the combined company after the acquisition.
The revised bid underscores Cenovus’s determination to consolidate Canada’s oil sands sector and achieve synergies through scale and integration. The MEG acquisition would expand Cenovus’s heavy oil portfolio, particularly in the Christina Lake region, and reinforce its position as one of North America’s largest integrated oil producers.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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