The $15.1 billion takeover of Canadian oil and gas producer Nexen Inc by China's State-owned CNOOC is not yet wrapped up despite the Canadian government's blessing after months of heated debate, Nexen's chief executive said Monday.
"We are nowhere near done," Nexen interim CEO Kevin Reinhart told Reuters as he left a business conference about economic ties between Canada and Asia.
He declined to give his reaction to Ottawa's Friday decision to approve the deal, saying it was too early.
A further decision on the high-profile transaction still rests with a secretive US foreign investment panel, which gets a say because Nexen has exploration and production assets in the Gulf of Mexico.
Investors had been assuming that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's green light Friday - after deliberating on how much control foreign state-owned enterprises may have over the country's energy resources - would be the biggest hurdle.
Reinhart would not give details on what else was needed before the deal could close. "It's in the press release, so that's all I'm going to say," Reinhart said.
In a statement released early Saturday, Nexen and CNOOC said the deal's closing remained subject to "the receipt of other applicable government and regulatory approvals, and the satisfaction or waiver of the other customary closing conditions."
A source familiar with the matter highlighted a ruling by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US as the main regulatory decision still remaining.
"That's the principal one," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter.
Reuters - Global Times
Cumquat market in S China's Guangxi
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