Canadian Natural Acquires Rio Alto

On July 1, 2002, Canadian Natural Resources Limited completed the $2.4 billion acquisition of Rio Alto Exploration Ltd. by way of a plan of arrangement. Canadian Natural acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Rio Alto for $850 million in cash and 10,008,000 Canadian Natural common shares. Rio Alto’s shareholders also received one share of Rio Alto Resources International Inc., which holds Rio Alto’s international operations, for each Rio Alto share held.
Canadian Natural was represented by Parlee McLaws LLP in Calgary, with a team including Nancy Penner, Gordon Adams, Ariane Young, Jim Thomson, Paul Mendes and Tom Ryder (tax). Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York acted as U.S. counsel to Canadian Natural, with a team including Edwin Maynard, Ian Putnam and David Sicular.
Rio Alto was represented by Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP in Calgary, with a team including John Brussa and Ian Bock (tax), Bill Maslechko, Bruce Allford, Fred Davidson and Jeff Oke (securities and oil & gas) and Alicia Quesnel (competition law).