From Petro Global News
Talisman Energy shareholders approved an $8.3 billion acquisition offer from Spain’s Repsol Thursday, moving the deal one step closer to closing.
Alberta-based Talisman said 99 percent of shareholders in each class voted in favor of the deal.
The deal must still be approved regulators.
Talisman said the sale is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015.
In December Repsol agreed to purchase Talisman for $8.3 billion, a 56 percent premium over the company’s $5.33 billion market value at closing the day before the deal was announced.
Repsol will also take on $4.7 billion of Talisman’s long-term debt.
The purchase will boost Repsol’s reserves by 55 percent to over 2.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent and increase production by 76 percent to 680,000 barrels per day.
Talisman investor James Baqleh filed suit in New York’s Supreme Court in January to stop the takeover, claiming Repsol’s offer is “grossly inadequate” and that investors would be “irreparably damaged” by the deal.
The case has not been settled yet.
Alberta-based Talisman saw its fourth quarter loss widen to $1.59 billion, or $1.54 per share, from a loss of $1.01 billion, or $0.98 per share, during the same period in 2013.
Revenues dropped 95 percent in the fourth quarter to $44 million, primarily due to losses from the company’s joint ventures.
