Hunt Oil Co.’s unsolicited bid to purchase all of the issued andoutstanding shares of Berkley Petroleum Corp. for C$10 per sharewas received as expected by Berkley shareholders this week, withthe Dallas-based company extending an olive branch by saying itwould lengthen the time period for its offer to be reviewed.

Calgary-based Berkley said its special committee of independentdirectors would review the offer, and said it has retained Peters& Co. Ltd. and Scotia Capital Inc. to review and advise it.

Hunt subsidiary Hunt Oil Canadian Acquisition II Corp. began anhostile takeover of Berkley last week (see Daily GPI, Jan. 2; Jan3; and Dec. 29, 2000), an offercalled “opportunistic and inadequate” by Berkley, which in turnadopted a shareholder rights protection plan.

Under Berkley’s protection plan, the Hunt offer did not qualifyas a “permitted bid” because it did not meet certain requirementsthat protect the interests of shareholders including, among otherthings, being open for acceptance up to 60 days. Berkley’s boardsaid the 60-day period is required to allow it to evaluate theoffer and pursue alternatives. In response, Hunt, which alreadyowns about 10% of Berkley, said it would extend its offer — butnot by four months.

“We recognize that Berkley has work to do in connection with ouroffer,” said Craig Glick, senior vice president of Hunt Oil.”Therefore, our offer will remain open substantially longer thanthe customary 21-day period. This additional time ensures Berkleywill have sufficient time to explore all alternatives by Feb. 6,and that the Shareholder Rights Plan adopted by Berkley in responseto our offer will have served its purpose and outlived itsusefulness prior to that time.”

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