This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery added 28 cents to $49.35 on the New York Merc, while Brent for July added 30 cents to $52.51 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $10.40 to WTI ($38.95), unchanged. Natural gas for June lost one cent to $3.18. The TSX energy index added a fraction to close at 192.98.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE) reached an intraday high of $12.82 before reversing course and closing at $12.62, down three cents from yesterday, on 6.15 million shares. It has closed its $17.7-billion cash-and-share acquisition of assets in the Alberta oil sands and the Deep basin from ConocoPhillips. There had been some question over whether it would be able to do so by its target date of mid- to late May, given that in late April, a disgruntled shareholder asked the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to halt the deal pending a shareholder vote. The shareholder, Len Racioppo of the Toronto-based Coerente Capital Management, was aggrieved by the nearly 50-per-cent dilution that would result from the acquisition and a related financing. "It is pretty outrageous that [Cenovus] would do a deal that would dilute shareholders by 47 per cent and not bring it to a vote," he complained to the Financial Post on April 24. However outrageous he may have found the deal, the OSC (and the TSX, for that matter, when it gave its approval) had no problem with it. The deal has gone ahead without intervention.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS