SUNCOR GETS ENOUGH SUPPORT TO CLOSE ITS COS ACQUISITION

After months of urging Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. shareholders to tender their shares, Suncor Energy Inc. now has enough support to close its hostile-turned-friendly takeover. Suncor announced Monday night that it has the support of 82.4 per cent of COS shareholders, and that a special meeting would be held on March 21 to close the acquisition. Since Suncor controls more than two-thirds of COS shares, “it is in a position to ensure the successful outcome of the shareholder vote” and will close its acquisition of COS next month, the company said. Suncor took it’s all-share offer directly to COS shareholders in October, which began a war of words with COS management and its board. In the end, COS management and one of the company’s largest shareholders, billionaire Seymour Schulich, agreed to an amended deal in January. The deal will add 128,000 barrels of daily oil production to Suncor’s output and will make Suncor the largest member of the joint- venture that owns Syncrude Canada Ltd.