Nexen, Progress foreign takeover deals approved by Canadian government

[CHIMO]

Source: The Globe and Mail

The federal government has approved two controversial takeovers by Asian state-owned enterprises of Canadian oil companies, but will block any further acquisitions in the oil sands by such government-owned firms.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper late Friday announced a tough new foreign investment policy that erects major hurdles for acquisitions by state-owned enterprises, even while welcoming non-controlling investment from them.

Barring state-controlled investors from new takeovers in Canada’s oil sands and making it tougher for these entities to buy assets elsewhere in the country is the latest populist move from a government that has shown it has no qualms about keeping unwanted capital at bay.

“To be blunt, Canadians have not spent years reducing ownership of sectors of the economy by our own governments only to see them bought and controlled by foreign governments instead,” Mr. Harper told reporters.



Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/nexen-progress-foreign-takeover-deals-approved-by-canadian-government/article6107548/

[Posteritatis]

1. Except that, y'know, thanks to your policies, Steve, we *have*...

Ugh.

I'm doing a pile of research on maritime history at the moment as part of my job, and am kind of boggling at the number of Canadian shipping lines and maritime manufacturers that wound up under foreign ownership in the last decade and again in the eighties.

[limpyhobbler]

2. Nexen owns alot of US oil and gas plays too no? Does the US State Department need to approve this?

At least for Nexen's US properties?

I don't think we should sell big chunks of our country off to state-owned Chinese oil companies.

[CHIMO]

3. That Point

Is why I am surprised things have been so quiet with the US first groups!

[elehhhhna]

5. it hasn't been widely covered here

but the senate and house guys will make a LOTTA money threatening this deal. After China pays them off it'll go through. Just wait. Big noise, contributions, approval. That's the American way.

[Laha]

6. Not here either

And the Canadian way, apparently. Except without the noise. I'm really starting to worry about the lack of attention to these issues anyone has up here. Harper just gutted the protections for our waterways in his omnibus bill, and all I hear are crickets.

[elehhhhna]

8. Yup. I've been following it the CN business press, an d coverage has been sparse.

Nexen has some great employees who will jump ship asap. Chinese are going to have to pony up some major dough to retain and replace staff (the employee's stock, bonuses, etc. all vest as soon as the deal closes.)

[limpyhobbler]

7. the mind boggles. Maybe if the issue had got more attention in the media, there might have been

some popular resistance.

[elehhhhna]

4. they will own drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico

Last edited Fri Dec 7, 2012, 08:50 PM - Edit history (1)

China will have rights to Canada's oilsands and our Gulf -- lotsa oil under the gulf and easier to drill there than many other offshore locations.

[elehhhhna]

9. to be fair, US co's drill off China's coast

and there are LOTS of foreign co's active offshore and onshore US

British Petroleum comes to mind.

US co's drill in every country that has oil, prettymuch, including lots of new frontiers (Israel for example. Massive offshore discovery there.)

[limpyhobbler]

11. My question at this point is do we even have a choice.

Do the wishes of the American people matter in this at all?

Or are these deals handled completely outside of the normal processes of democratic government?

Seems like outside.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

10. Classic neolib-conservative playbook.

1) Pretend that despite being flawed, and of no clear benefit to the Canadian people, approval of the deal was of vital international importance. Insert the caveat that future deals will be under greater scrutiny.

2) With foreign investment dollars pouring in to exploit the tar sands, now a problem will exist getting it to market.

3) Solve this problem by gutting regulations and pushing for mega pipelines.

[elehhhhna]

14. ANd yet they learn nothing form the fact that it's WAYYYYYYY

cheaper and smarter for large countries (China) to secure their oil supplies via acquisiton versus frikkin invasion and occupation (us)

[AdHocSolver]

12. Closing the barn door after the horses have escaped.

Capitalism will destroy civilization as we know it.

It is too bad. Humans have evolved to the level where we can put men on the moon and travel to the depths of the ocean, but we cannot rein in wacko, greedy capitalists or wacko, corrupt politicians.

We can map the DNA of living creatures, but then allow the most ignorant, selfish people to patent nature for profit thereby releasing environmentally destructive forces.

Moreover, we have global climate change deniers, massive pollution, a "global economy" headed for a meltdown, not to mention problematic nuclear reactors, and there are not a lot of reasons to be optimistic.

[elehhhhna]

13. let's get this to the greatest page - please? it needs exposure

simply b/c it should be in the news here any minute now