Cenovus Pushes Back MEG Deal Vote on Lack of Support

By Adriano Marchese

Cenovus Energy has exercised its right to postpone MEG Energy's shareholder meeting after estimating that it wouldn't garner enough votes to pass its proposed acquisition of the company.

MEG Energy on Tuesday said that the special meeting of its shareholders was postponed to next week after it said that about 63% of MEG shares expected to be voted at the meeting are in favor of the approval of the transaction with Cenovus, shy of the 66.7% needed for it to pass.

Even while rival bidder Strathcona Resources has pulled out of the running to acquire MEG, and despite Cenovus' 29.50-a-share ($21.01) cash bid receiving unanimous approval by both Cenovus and MEG boards, the vote must still be approved by two-thirds of MEG's shareholders.

While Strathcona was still in the bidding, it had consistently said that after sounding out MEG shareholder opinions, it believed that there was enough backing for its own bid to make a case against the Cenovus deal. Throughout the process, the company was buying up more and more shares on the open market to throw its weight in the shareholder meeting, which was originally set for Oct. 22.

Cenovus in turn has been increasing its own shareholding in MEG to 9.8% to counter Strathcona's influence, but according to MEG's estimates of voting expectations, it would still not be enough to meet the requirements.

The new meeting is set for Oct. 30.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2025 06:51 ET (10:51 GMT)