Q: I know this is speculation, but if Strathcona raised their offer and closes the deal with MEG. Do you feel that the price of SCR goes down on the news, similar to WCP going down when it bought Veren. The purchaser tends to go down because they are taking on debt, or diluting, etc while the purchased goes up because of a premium on the purchase price. I'm just wondering if it makes more sense to wait on the news of the deal to finalize. One outcome being they get MEG at a higher price, and their share price pulls back a bit due to the integration risks etc. OR the deal falls through or another company gets MEG and SCR price still goes down on the news for losing the deal.
5i Research Answer:
We are not so sure if SCR price would decline, providing they didn't overpay for MEG. But considering MEG's valuation and the synergies of the deal, they could bump their offer substantially we think and still make it work. There might be a short term decline if more shares are issued, but we doubt it would be sustained. If another company gets MEG, SCR would still nicely profit from its 9.2% shareholder position.