Latest news with #Fagerheim
Toronto Star
06-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Shareholders approve $15-billion Whitecap-Veren deal
CALGARY - Whitecap Resources Inc. is on track to join forces with Veren Inc. next week after shareholders of both companies gave their blessing for the $15-billion deal. Both companies held virtual shareholder meetings to vote on the transaction, each lasting about five minutes. In a news release, they say 88.7 per cent of Whitecap investors voted to issue Whitecap shares to Veren shareholders under the deal. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Veren shareholders, meanwhile, voted 99.8 per cent in favour of the combination. The Court of King's Bench is to hear an application to approve the deal on Thursday, with closing slated for Monday and Veren shares to be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The Calgary-based companies announced a friendly deal in March that they say will create the seventh-largest Canadian oil company by production. The combined company will continue operating under the Whitecap name and management team. Whitecap is to become the biggest landholder in the Montney and Duvernay shale regions in western Alberta and the second-largest oil producer in Saskatchewan. CEO Grant Fagerheim warned some staff will not keep their jobs in the new company. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'The personnel decisions we made were certainly not easy with the large number of quality personnel we had to choose from,' he told shareholders after the vote. The companies are projecting more than $200 million in cost savings and efficiencies once they come together. Whitecap will have total daily production of 370,000 barrels with the deal. Fagerheim said Whitecap has stress-tested the combined company's ability to withstand a US$50 West Texas Intermediate crude price through 2026. The June contract was trading under US$60 on Tuesday. 'We are excited to bring the new Whitecap Resources together with one mission — to drive superior per-share returns to shareholders,' Fagerheim said. 'It's time to get it going.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX: WCP, TSX: VRN)
Global News
06-05-2025
- Business
- Global News
Shareholders approve $15B Whitecap-Veren deal
Whitecap Resources Inc. is on track to join forces with Veren Inc. next week after shareholders of both companies gave their blessing for the $15-billion deal. The companies did not immediately provide breakdowns of how many votes were cast in favour of the transaction during separate virtual shareholder meetings that were each completed in about five minutes. The Calgary-based companies announced a friendly deal in March that they say will create the seventh-largest Canadian oil company by production. The combined company will continue operating under the Whitecap name and management team. Whitecap is to become the biggest landholder in the Montney and Duvernay shale regions in western Alberta and the second-largest oil producer in Saskatchewan. Get weekly money news Get expert insights, Q&A on markets, housing, inflation, and personal finance information delivered to you every Saturday. Sign up for weekly money newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy CEO Grant Fagerheim warned some staff will not be keeping their jobs in the new company. Story continues below advertisement 'The personnel decisions we made were certainly not easy with the large number of quality personnel we had to choose from,' he told shareholders after the vote. The companies are projecting more than $200 million in cost savings and efficiencies once they come together. Whitecap will have total daily production of 370,000 barrels with the deal. Fagerheim said Whitecap has stress-tested the combined company's ability to withstand a US$50 West Texas Intermediate crude price through 2026. The June contract was trading under US$60 on Tuesday. 'We are excited to bring the new Whitecap Resources together with one mission – to drive superior per-share returns to shareholders,' Fagerheim said. 'It's time to get it going.'
Calgary Herald
24-04-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Whitecap reports higher Q1 earnings as it works to close $15B Veren deal
CALGARY — Whitecap Resources Inc., weeks away from closing a $15-billion combination with fellow western Canadian oil and gas producer Veren Inc., has reported a jump in first-quarter profits, revenues and production. Article content Article content Chief executive Grant Fagerheim told analysts Thursday that '2025 has started off on the right foot, and we expect to have strong performance to continue through the year.' Article content Article content The Calgary-based company had net income of $162.6 million during the first three months of the year, compared with $59.8 million during the same quarter in 2024. That amounted to 27 cents per diluted share, up from 10 cents a year earlier. Article content Article content Petroleum and natural gas revenues were $942.2 million versus $868.3 million in the first three months of 2024. Average daily production was just over 179,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day compared with almost 170,000 a year earlier. Shortly after that, Whitecap aims to update its 2025 financial and production forecasts, Fagerheim said. Article content The combined company will continue operating under the Whitecap name and management team. It's expected to become the seventh-largest Canadian oil company by production, the biggest landholder in the Montney and Duvernay shales in western Alberta and the second-largest oil producer in Saskatchewan. Article content Article content Under the all-stock transaction, Veren shareholders are to get 1.05 shares of Whitecap for each Veren share they own. Article content 'We are very much looking forward to combining these outstanding assets and teams together to create a leading light oil condensate and natural gas producer focused on improving long-term sustainability and profitability to drive superior returns to our shareholders,' Fagerheim said. Article content He said Whitecap expects to weather the current weakness in commodity prices, just as it did at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and during the collapse in crude oil prices in 2015 and 2016. Article content West Texas Intermediate crude prices have been hovering a little above the US$60 a barrel mark in recent weeks. But analysts have said many Canadian oilpatch firms became leaner in past downturns and now have the financial strength to withstand the current doldrums. Article content For its part, Whitecap expects to be able to fully fund its annual base dividend of 73 cents per share with WTI at or below US$50 a barrel.
CBC
10-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Whitecap to acquire Veren in $15B all-stock deal, creating major shale player
Whitecap Resources Inc. and Veren Inc. are joining forces in a $15-billion dollar deal to create a major Canadian shale player that they say will stand stronger against political and market upheaval than if they were to each go it alone. "The pro forma company will be more resilient and better able to manage the current macro environment, including the ongoing threat of tariffs and commodity price volatility," Whitecap CEO Grant Fagerheim told analysts on a conference call Monday. The transaction would make Whitecap the seventh-largest Canadian oil producer by production, the biggest landholder in the Montney and Duvernay in western Alberta and the second-largest oil producer in Saskatchewan. Under the all-stock transaction announced Monday, Veren shareholders are to get 1.05 shares of Whitecap for each Veren share they own. The combined firm is to be led by Whitecap's existing management team under the Whitecap name. Four directors are to join the Whitecap board of directors, including Veren's current chief executive, Craig Bryksa. The deal is expected to close before May 30 and needs shareholder, court and regulatory approval. After it's done, current Whitecap shareholders will own about 48 per cent of the combined entity and existing Veren shareholders will own the rest. Fagerheim said the deal gives his company a leading position in the Montney and Duvernay shales in western Alberta, which are rich in valuable natural gas liquids. It will also increase its light oil position in Saskatchewan. "Our combined company will include exceptional technical and support personnel from the two companies in both the office and field and an experienced board of directors that prioritizes sustainable and profitable growth to generate strong returns for our combined shareholders," Fagerheim said in a news release. Bryksa says the transaction positions the new company to have a competitive advantage. "Both companies have been strategic and disciplined in their approach to building and developing these great assets," he told analysts. "I truly believe the combined company, with an enhanced excess cash flow profile, strong financial position and compelling return on capital is perfectly positioned to be more competitive and create further shareholder value." The companies are projecting more than $200 million in cost savings and efficiencies once they come together. Whitecap will have total daily production of 370,000 barrels with the deal. It and Veren each had a five-year plan to grow to 250,000 barrels of daily production. An analyst asked Fagerheim whether a 500,000 barrel-a-day target would now be plausible later this decade for Whitecap. "I would make the assumption at this time that we would be able to achieve these types of growth metrics by putting the two companies together," Fagerheim replied. Veren, which changed its name from Crescent Point Energy last year, saw its shares spike more than 15 per cent to $8.14 in midday trading on the TSX. Whitecap shares were down more than 14 per cent to $8.02. "We view the transaction positively to the extent that it provides shareholders of both companies with exposure to a significantly larger entity with overlapping interests in several areas of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, including the Alberta Montney and Duvernay plays, and in Saskatchewan," Desjardins analyst MacCulloch wrote in a note.
