A merger between Petro-Canada and Suncor is the biggest energy deal in Canadian history
Speaking in March, Suncor CEO Rick George pitched the idea with typical Canadian reserve (though George himself is from Colorado). “I don’t know if the merger of Petro-Canada and Suncor is a match made in heaven,” he said, “but it’s a match made in Canada.” Now, with the approval of Suncor shareholders, the match-making is done, the wedding upon us. The result, the largest energy deal in Canadian history, will create the second biggest company in Canada after the Royal Bank. It’s a sign of rough times in the Alberta oil patch and an augury of its shape post-recession—leaner, with fewer competitors and therefore more oil and gas pie to go around. As Dan Healing and Shaun Polczer write in the Calgary Herald, comparing it to the last big energy deal to hit Calgary—the one that made EnCana—it all could have gone down so differently: “Then as now, the deal was seen as a defensive strategy to prevent crown jewel energy assets from falling prey to foreign takeovers.”