Bids will likely start coming in during the first week of January for the assets of Esso Minerals Canada, which were put on the selling block earlier this year by parent Imperial Oil.
President Michael Berthelsen says a number of companies have already visited Esso’s offices in both Vancouver and Toronto to view the data package on the mineral division’s assets. “It could be that we’ll have a buyer to disclose in January,” Berthelsen said. “But it could then take a further 60 to 90 days to go through the required due diligence and first rights of refusal.”
A block sale to one buyer could become complicated by the rights of first refusal held by partners on many of Esso’s properties. Any bid from a potential buyer would have to be disclosed to Esso’s partners, which could decide to match or block a given offer by invoking rights of first refusal.
“We’re trying to sell all the assets together as a block,” Berthelsen said. Under such a scenario, Esso Mineral’s exploration group would probably go with the properties, rather than be disbanded during a piecemeal sell off.
Esso Minerals’ main producing asset, and the anchor to the deal, is its 35% interest in the Selbaie copper-zinc-gold-silver mine in northern Quebec. The company has some 50 exploration projects in various stages of development across Canada.
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