Statoil Confirms Acceptance of Couche-Tard's Acquisition Offer

LAVAL, Quebec -- Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA has confirmed its formal acceptance of Alimentation Couche-Tard's offer to acquire 54 percent of the company's shares, reports The Financial. This follows its pre-acceptance of the cash offer.

"Statoil ASA has accepted this offer. We consider the offer to be attractive," said Statoil Chief Financial Officer Torgrim Reitan. "It provides shareholders in Statoil Fuel & Retail with the opportunity to realize a substantial return since the IPO in 2010."

Couche-Tard's offer delivers a premium of 53 percent to the closing price of Statoil shares on April 17, the last trading day prior to the offer's announcement, according to the report. Couche-Tard plans to pay $2.679 billion for Statoil and a special dividend of approximately 31 cents on each of its 300 million issued and outstanding shares.

"In addition to delivering an attractive premium, it is important for Statoil that Couche-Tard is a strong industrial buyer that will enable Statoil Fuel & Retail to pursue its strategy under new and long term industrial ownership, for the benefit of its customers and employees," added Reitan.

The voting period for the acquisition offer, which must be approved by 90 percent of Statoil shareholders, has been extended to 5:30 p.m. CET on May 29. Yesterday Couche-Tard President and CEO Alain Bouchard voiced disappointment with the preliminary response to the offer, as CSNews Online report.