Suncor CEO says ‘slightly ahead’ of tender numbers needed to secure COS bid
原始发布日期： 2016-01-05 发布者：李方字变大 字变小
Suncor Energy Inc CEO says company ‘slightly ahead’ of tender numbers needed to secure Canadian Oil Sands Ltd bid
 Suncor and Canadian Oil Sands management have been sniping at each other ever since Suncor launched an unwelcome bid in October. / Financial Post“So as we’ve gone around, we’ve been seeing some of the bigger shareholders this week again, and we’re getting a very clear message that there is no support for an independent Canadian Oil Sands, because of those factors,” Williams said in a conference call with investors. “The other thing I would say is, I can’t give numbers yet, because the process is early and engaged. We are slightly ahead of the tender numbers that I would have expected at this stage.” Suncor and COS management have been sniping at each other ever since Suncor launched an unwelcome bid in October. The two companies are shareholders in Syncrude Canada Ltd. Canadian Oil Sands 37 per cent stake in Syncrude is it’s sole asset, while Suncor has investments in oilsands projects, refineries and international resources in addition to its 12 per cent stake in Syncrude. Suncor is proposing to acquire all of COS shares, which would give it a 49 per cent stake in Syncrude. Each COS shareholder will receive 0.25 of a Suncor share, representing an implied value of $8.82 per COS share or a 42 per cent premium to the pre-offer trading price of $6.19 per COS share. The deadline for COS shareholders to tender their stock to Suncor’s offer is 6 p.m. MT on Friday. Suncor needs at least two-thirds support from COS shareholders for the bid to succeed. Williams said the COS’s share price could collapse to $5 if Suncor walks away from the deal, especially as Canadian Oil Sands’ shares are 98 per cent correlated to the price of oil which has fallen since Suncor made the offer. COS financial advisers had said four parties were interested in the company, but no one has stepped forward, Williams said. “They have no superior offer. After all this time, all Canadian Oil Sands is offering is hope for a price recovery that the market doesn’t see coming anytime soon and operational improvements at Syncrude which there unfortunately is simply no evidence.” They have no superior offer. After all this time, all Canadian Oil Sands is offering is hope for a price recovery that the market doesn’t see coming COS shareholder Seymour Schulich, who has a five per cent stake in the company, published an open letter in Canadian newspapers stating that he will not be selling Suncor shares “at this price” and advised other COS shareholders to follow his lead. In a media interview Schulich also stated that 28 per cent of the shareholders were against the deal. “We’re quite confident that there’s not 28 per cent aligned with him, no,” William countered, noting that Schulich was in the minority. “In fact, if you read Schulich’s letter, one other thing I read into it was he wasn’t actually against, he was negotiating, he was negotiating price and we have had some conversations with Schulich.” yhussain@postmedia.com YAD_FPEnergy Calgary Herald |