Cnooc-Nexen takeover bid resubmitted to U.S. regulators

Washington, DC, United States (4E) – Nexen announced on Tuesday that the company and Cnooc Ltd. resubmitted their application for review by the U.S. government of a takeover bid.

The Hong Kong exchange-listed and state-owned oil firm Cnooc plans to take over Nexen for $18bn including debt. Nexen’s shareholders and board of directors have already approved the deal but the nod from U.S., EU, Canadian and Chinese regulators is still required.

Nexen, which has assets outside the U.S., owns several deep water oil and gas blocks in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to Nexen, the company had withdrawn and resubmitted its application to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (Cfius), an interagency group that gives the green light on critical foreign acquisitions of American assets.

Cfius has 75 days to make a decision after a deal is submitted to them.

The reapplication was made in “mutual agreement” between the company and the committee, according to Nexen. This is not the first time that a reapplication was done, although the merger between Cnooc and Nexen is being closely followed by the U.S. and Canadian regulators.

According to insiders familiar with the negotiations, Cfius was nearing its deadline to review the deal, and it may have been reluctant to pre-empt any decision by the Canadian government.

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