Canadian Oil Sands could receive takeover offer from JV partner
Canadian Oil Sands saw its stock price climb 20% on Monday on the heels of speculation that the Calgary, Alberta-based company could end up being on the receiving end of a takeover bid by one of its Syncrude Canada partners, reported The National Post on 3 February.
A report from the newspaper's Financial Post section cited First Energy Capital analyst Michael Dunn as saying that Canadian Oil Sands may, should its stock continue to under perform, very well be bought by one of its partners in the joint venture involving seven energy firms.
According to the report, Canadian Oil Sands, with a 37% stake in Syncrude, has the largest position in the JV. Imperial Oil, meanwhile, has a 25% interest. An earlier report from this news service noted that the other partners include Suncor (12%), and SINOPEC (9%), Nexen Oil Sands (7%), Mocal Energy (5%) and Murphy Oil (5%).
While Imperial Oil opted not to comment on the speculation, parent company ExxonMobil of Irving, Texas indicated on Monday that it wants to take advantage of low oil prices by seeking out M&A opportunities.
Canadian Oil Sands' market cap is CAD 3.84bn (USD 3.051bn).
National Post