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Total buys Canada’s UTS Energy
Total agreed yesterday to buy UTS Energy for C$1.5bn (£900m) in cash, more than doubling an offer the small Canadian company spurned 18 months ago, as the French major looks to boost its holdings in the Alberta oil sands. In a bid backed by UTS’s board, Total is offering C$3.08 a share for the company – well above the initial C$1.30 hostile bid Total made in January 2009 and then sweetened to C$1.75 three months later to no avail. UTS will also spin off its stake in the Frontier and Equinox oil sands properties into a new company, SilverBirch Energy. The deal, based on a 46 per cent premium to UTS’s closing price on 6 July, gives Total a 20 per cent stake in the highly prospective Fort Hills mining project controlled by Suncor Energy.