Posted on 08/02/2005 6:10:14 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
NEW YORK (AP) -- CNOOC Limited says it has withdrawn its $18.5 billion offer for Unocal Corp.
Well, wasn't that fun?
I thought they withdrew it a long time ago.
Good riddance.
Now we'll see what Plan B is.
I work for a stock brokerage firm and I've been keeping track of how our clients are voting.
Overwhelmingly, they are choosing Chevron's bid....in spite of the fact that CNOOC had a better offer.
I bet that cost someone a pretty penny...
Did they have a choice? LOL
Probably lost their appetite. A half-hour from now they'll be hungry for something else.
I wouldn't celebrate just yet.
Associated Press - China's CNOOC Ltd. said Tuesday it has withdrawn its $18.5 billion cash offer for Unocal Corp., stating it considered raising its bid, and "would have done so but for the political environment in the U.S."
CNOOC's withdrawal frees the way for Chevron Corp. to clinch its $17.4 billion bid for El Segundo, Calif.-based Unocal.
Late last week, reports said Hong Kong-based CNOOC was trying to decide between raising its bid for Unocal to as much as $20 billion or to drop it entirely due to objections by critics who contend the acquisition might imperil U.S. energy security.
CNOOC's parent company, the China National Offshore Oil Corp., is 70-percent owned by the Chinese government.
Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company behind Exxon Mobil Corp., last week raised its cash-and-stock offer for Unocal to $63.01 share, from $16.7 billion, or $60.51 a share.
Unocal's board has endorsed Chevron's offer and its shareholders are set to vote on the deal Aug. 10.
Obviously there were certain risk premiums outweighting the superior "Cash" offer of the PLA, oops, I mean CCCP, oops, I mean PRC, oops, I mean CNOOC....
Pulling their unsolicited bid now in the middle of the voting shows that their solidity just isn't there. Everything is a matter of government whim...and the government doesn't like to lose face.
Very Big Chinese Characteristic, face. By yanking that bid now they save face...albeit only a little. From their viewpoint they are saving face. Not realizing how it looks from an American investor's viewpoint, who must recognize the flightiness and patently non-business motivations underpinning their bid.
This will make any future bids that they offer, which happen to have any discretionary contingencies in them,...complete non-starters for lack of credibility.
"I bet that cost someone a pretty penny..."
I would think some heads will roll...literally. It's not beyond the ChiComss to take a few lives for "this mistake"
Is patriotism/national security the factor, in your opinion?
Make an offer for Chevron ?
MORE:
CNOOC's bid sparked concerns in Congress that the proposed deal presented risks to America's economic and national security. A flurry of legislation intended to derail CNOOC's offer has been introduced in both houses of Congress.
Influential investment advisory group Institutional Shareholder Services on Monday endorsed Chevron's bid, ISS estimated it would take six to nine months for CNOOC's bid to navigate through all the political and regulatory hurdles in the United States and China, with no guarantee that the deal would ever be completed.
In a statement Tuesday, the Chinese oil company said "the unprecedented political opposition that followed the announcement of our proposed transaction was regrettable and unjustified. This is especially the case in light of CNOOC's purely commercial objectives and the extensive commitments that CNOOC was prepared to make to address any legitimate concerns U.S. officials may have had regarding our acquisition."
The company said that the political environment created "a level of uncertainty that presents an unacceptable risk to our ability to secure this transaction."
Unocal shares closed Monday at $64.37 on the New York Stock Exchange, and fell 67 cents to $63.70 in premarket activity.
Please correct me if I am wrong but didn't UNOCAL already refuse the Chicoms' offer last week?
hmmmmmm...
This time the stupid Americans outwitted them.
UNOCAL's board "strongly recommended" that they take the Chevron bid, but the company can't refuse the bid; the shareholders have to vote on the matter.
oh, okay. thanks for the clarification.
SEC won't probably allow UNOCAL to sell to the Chicoms anyway, will it? national security and all...
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