China’s top offshore oil producer CNOOC Ltd. has entered into an agreement to buy Canada’s Nexen Inc. for about $15.1 billion, the Chinese company said on Monday.
State-controlled CNOOC said it would pay $27.50 per common share, representing a 61 percent premium to Nexen’s closing price in New York on Friday.
“The aggregate value of the consideration of the proposed acquisition is approximately $15.1 billion (approximately HK$117.2 billion), and is to be payable in cash,” CNOOC said in a statement filed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
“The current indebtedness of Nexen of approximately $4.3 billion (approximately HK$33.6 billion) will remain outstanding. The company intends to fund the proposed acquisition through existing cash resources and external financing.”
The statement said the deal would complement CNOOC’s offshore production in China with Nexen assets in many of the world’s most significant producing regions, including Western Canada, the UK’s North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Nigeria.
Nexen’s assets include conventional oil and gas, oil sands and shale gas.
The statement said that the Nexen board has unanimously approved to the deal.
