On December 14, 2017, Whitecap Resources Inc. (Whitecap), an oil-weighted growth company based in Calgary, closed the acquisition of high quality light oil assets in southeast Saskatchewan for approximately $940 million, from Cenovus Energy Inc. (Cenovus), an integrated Canadian oil company.
Concurrent with the closing of the acquisition, Whitecap’s borrowing base was increased to $1.7 billion from $1.3 billion. The acquisition was partially funded through a $92.5 million non-brokered private placement and a concurrent $332.5 million bought deal equity financing which closed on December 4, 2017, and was co-led by National Bank Financial Inc. and TD Securities Inc. (the Underwriters).
Whitecap was represented by Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP with a team which included Stuart Money, Brittney LaBranche and Randon Slaney (energy), Shannon Gangl, Sylvie Welsh and Riley O’Brien (securities), Heather DiGregorio and Brandon Holden (tax), Nancy Smith and Nicole Chorley (banking) and Gina Ross (employment).
Cenovus was represented by its in-house legal team of Geoff Paskuski (Associate General Counsel), Tamar Epstein (Associate General Counsel), Suzanne Smith (Associate General Counsel) and Amy Gillespie (Senior Legal Counsel). Dentons Canada LLP was external counsel to Cenovus Energy, with a team that included George Antonopoulos, Michael Hurst, Courtney Burton, Gordon Tarnowsky, QC (energy), Barry Zalmanowitz, Simon Kupi (competition), Matthew Potts (real estate) and Barbara Johnston (labour and employment).
The Underwriters were represented by McCarthy Tétrault LLP by a team that included Sony Gill, Gordon Cameron and Ben Layton (securities).