Orleans Energy Acquires Morpheus Energy and Mercury Energy

On May 31, 2006, Orleans Energy Ltd., an emerging Alberta-based oil and gas company, completed the acquisition of two private Alberta oil and gas companies, Morpheus Energy Corporation and Mercury Energy Corporation, for approximately $89 million and $21 million, respectively, for a total of $110 million. The acquisitions were funded in part by a bought-deal private placement financing consisting of the offering of 5,600,000 subscription receipts and 670,000 flow-through common shares for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $38 million. The syndicate of underwriters were led by Peters & Co. and included GMP Securities Ltd., Tristone Capital Inc., Dundee Securities Corporation and National Bank Financial Inc.
Orleans was represented by Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP on the acquisitions with a team that included Jeff Lawson, Jeremy Matthies, Will Van Horne and Lindsay Cox, and on the financing by Jeff Lawson and Jeremy Matthies. Morpheus was represented by Stikeman Elliott LLP with a team that included Chris Nixon and Craig Story. Mercury was represented by Macleod Dixon LLP with a team that included Craig Hoskins, Craig Maurice, Kirk Litvenenko and Kirsty Sklar. The syndicate of underwriters was represented by Bennett Jones LLP with a team that included Darrell Peterson and Lisa Ricketts.