Canadian Oil Sands urges shareholders to ignore Suncor offer

Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. is again urging shareholders to ignore the “undervalued and opportunistic” offer from Suncor Energy Inc. Both companies are based in Calgary.

Suncor on Oct. 5 made an unsolicited offer to acquire all the outstanding shares of COS. Later that month, COS urged shareholders to reject the offer (OGJ Online, Oct. 19, 2015).

In a Dec. 29 letter to shareholders, COS said, “To reject the Suncor bid, simply continue to do nothing.”

The expiration date for the Suncor offer is Jan. 8, 2016 (OGJ Online, Dec. 4, 2015).

The letter said “fear-mongering is the only strategy left for Suncor” and that “Suncor wants you to believe that the collapse in oil prices will last forever.”

COS has a strong balance sheet, ample liquidity, and no debt maturities until 2019, the letter said.

“The fact is COS wasn’t looking to sell itself before and there is nothing to conclude that just because Suncor made a Hail Mary low-ball bid we should be selling to them now,” read the letter, signed by Donald J. Lowry, COS chairman, and Arthur N. Korpach, chair of the audit committee.