Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is weighing a bid for Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM), people with knowledge of the matter said, even as Repsol SA closes in on a deal for the Canadian oil-and-gas explorer.
Canada Pension initially considered buying parts of Talisman and is now also looking at a bid for the whole company after a plunge in its shares, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Talisman is aware of Canada Pension’s interest in a deal, though a deal may not be reached, the people said.
Repsol, which revived acquisition talks with Talisman this month, is discussing a bid for Talisman at between C$6 and C$8 a share -- or about C$6 billion ($5.2 billion) to C$8 billion, two people with knowledge of the matter said. A deal could be reached as soon as this week, the people said.
Expansion reported earlier that Repsol (REP)’s board is meeting today to approve a Talisman bid.
Representatives for Talisman, Canada Pension, and Repsol declined to comment. Talisman said today that it is in talks with Repsol and “also been approached by a number of other parties regarding various transactions.”
Plunging Shares
Even after recent gains, the Calgary-based company’s shares are down 59 percent this year amid a plunge in the price of crude. The shares ended Toronto trading last week at C$5.04, giving the company a market value of about C$5.2 billion. Including its net debt, Talisman’s value is C$10.7 billion.
Talisman wouldn’t be Canada Pension’s first foray into Calgary’s oil patch. The Toronto-based fund, which manages about C$234 billion in assets owns most of Teine Energy Ltd. and is the largeststakeholder in Seven Generations Energy Ltd. (VII), with about 15 percent of its shares.
The drop in oil prices may offer investment opportunities in Canada’s energy sector for long-term investors, the head of Canada Pension, Mark Wiseman, said in an interview on Nov. 13. For a long-term, value-based investor, the Canadian energy space is a bright spot, he said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Scott Deveau in Toronto at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net; Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mohammed Hadi at mhadi1@bloomberg.net; Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net Elizabeth Fournier