AIMCo wants loans, fees repaid

The Alberta Investment Management Corp. is demanding a local drilling company immediately repay $111 million in loans and fees, which is pressuring the company to refinance its debt while in the middle of a takeover.

AIMCo demanded repayment from Savanna Energy Services Corp. this week following a tumultuous four-month period in which Savanna failed to fight off a hostile takeover from another Calgarybased oilfield company, Total Energy Services Inc.

AIMCo, which manages $90-billion worth of public pension investments for the Alberta government, loaned Savanna $200 million at the beginning of that four-month period but supported a competing, negotiated bid from Western Energy Services Corp. that was not successful.

When Total did successfully take control of Savanna last month in a deal worth $444 million, Savanna acknowledged the change of control resulted in the drilling company being in default with some of its credit facilities, but said it didn’t expect its lenders to act on the default.

But AIMCo did act and served Savanna with a default notice Tuesday, demanding repayment of $105 million in loans plus interest and a $6-million fee payable in the event of a change in control of Savanna’s shares.

The Crown corporation declined a request for comment while Savanna issued a release that said it is considering its refinancing options.

While the request for repayment was immediate, the terms of the loan give Savanna and its majority shareholder Total 180 days before AIMCo can enforce collection.

AltaCorp Capital analyst Aaron MacNeil said the repayment demand was widely expected because AIMCo supported Western’s deal over Total’s deal.