Blackstone Abandons Inghams’s Chickens, Cnooc/Nexen Episode: Mergers and Acquisitions Recap

The Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) took itself  out of the bidding for Inghams Enterprises, Australia’s largest poultry producer, because the asking price was too high, say inside sources. The firm is valued at approximately $1.5 billion.

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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has received a memo from Wayne Wouters, the government’s top bureaucrat, which says that Cnooc Limited’s (NYSE:CEO) proposed $15.1-billion takeover of Nexen (NYSE:NXY) would give the Chinese firm the largest interest of  the Buzzard oil field in the North Sea that “has increasingly influenced” world oil prices. Nexen reportedly holds 43 percent of Buzzard, which initiated output in 2007, and comprises the biggest oil find off the United Kingdom in the past two decades. Harper’s government is currently evaluating the proposed merger, but to pass, the move must be in Canada’s interest. In addition, the memo advised Harper on Sinopec’s (NYSE:SHI) proposed $1.5-billion purchase of 49 percent of the United Kingdom’s assets of the Calgary- based Talisman Energy (NYSE:TLM), which is moot as that transaction does not require Canada’s approval for completion.

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