Canada's Suncor Energy on Hunt for M&A Deals
29 Octobre 2015 - 8:20PM
Dow Jones News
CALGARY, Alberta—Suncor Energy Inc., Canada's largest crude-oil
producer, said Thursday it is looking for acquisition opportunities
even as it signaled reluctance to increase its buyout offer for
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd.
The Calgary-based company, which launched a hostile bid earlier
this month for Canadian Oil Sands, is interested in assets to
supplement its core businesses in oil sands, refining and offshore
drilling in the North Sea and Canadian Atlantic, said Steve
Williams, Suncor's chief executive.
"In the M&A world, at these prices some companies have
started to look reasonably attractive," Mr. Williams told analysts
on a conference call.
However, he ruled out a bid for oil-sands rival Cenovus Energy
Inc., which has been highlighted by industry analysts as a possible
takeover target.
"We have no sights on Cenovus," he said later on a media
conference call.
Suncor, which has a war chest of $5.4 billion Canadian dollars
($4.1 billion) in cash, has taken advantage of a sharp drop in
crude oil prices in its offer for Canadian Oil Sands. Based on
current trading prices, its all-stock offer is worth around $9.71
Canadian dollars a share, which is below a bid it made earlier this
year that valued Canadian Oil Sands shares at about $11.84 Canadian
dollars each.
The company's offer for Canadian Oil Sands, which has urged its
shareholders to reject the deal, closes on Dec. 4. Mr. Williams
hinted that Suncor is unlikely to sweeten its bid, citing a bearish
outlook for oil prices and the lack of a competing offer.
"We would like to see Canadian Oil Sands shareholders decide for
themselves on its merits," he said.
A Canadian Oil Sands takeover would increase Suncor's stake in
the Syncrude oil-sands consortium to 48.7%, but Mr. Williams said
the company has no plans to take over the lead operator role "at
this stage." Canadian Oil Sands owns a 36.7% stake in Syncrude and
Suncor has 12%. Five other energy companies also own stakes,
including Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil
Ltd., which owns 25% and is the primary operator of Syncrude's
oil-sands mines.
Suncor late Wednesday reported a loss for the third quarter,
mostly due to a foreign-exchange loss linked to U.S. dollar
denominated debt. Adjusted to exclude items, earnings were still
down nearly 69% from a year earlier due to the slide in crude oil
prices, but came in ahead of analyst expectations. Cash flow fell
nearly 19% to $1.88 billion Canadian dollars, as its average
realized price from oil-sands production slumped to $47.93 Canadian
dollars a barrel from $89.38 Canadian dollars a barrel a year
ago.
Write to Chester Dawson at chester.dawson@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 29, 2015 15:05 ET (19:05 GMT)
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