Suncor completes acquisition of Canadian Oil Sands

CALGARY, Alberta, March 22 (UPI) -- Canadian companies Suncor and Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. announced their merger was completed under the terms of a hostile offer launched last year.

Both companies announced the end of the acquisition process that saw Suncor take in all of the shares in its rival. Suncor President and CEO Steve Williams said the final grab of 15.8 percent of the outstanding shares marked the final step of the deal.

"We're looking forward to working cooperatively with Syncrude to steadily improve asset performance, reduce costs and explore synergy opportunities," he said in a statement.

Canadian Oil Sands was among the largest owners in the Syncrude operation in northern Alberta. Production there stands at around 350,000 barrels of oil per day, enough to meet the annual petroleum needs of 6.2 million Canadians. As the largest facility of its kind, Syncrude contributes more than $4.5 billion to the Canadian economy annually.

With the merger completed, Suncor said shares in Canadian Oil Sands will be pulled from the Toronto Stock Exchange at the end of the trading day Wednesday.

Suncor in late 2015 made an estimated $3 billion hostile bid to acquire all stocks in Canadian Oil Sands.

Canadian Oil Sands management criticized the bid as opportunistic, though Suncor said it could help return value to shareholders.

Suncor in February reported an operating loss of $18.9 million and a net loss of $1.45 billion for the fourth quarter.