Canada's Suncor Energy on Hunt for M&A Deals

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 [e-mail]

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October 29, 2015 15:05 ET (19:05 GMT)

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