Canadian 88 Energy Corp., which has been undergoing a series of changes as it refocuses its interests in Alberta, said Friday that its board of directors has voted to rename the Calgary-based independent to Esprit Exploration Ltd. If approved as expected, the new name would be implemented “shortly thereafter,” said the company.

“The new name captures the spirit, energy and determination of our company and particularly, our team.” said CEO Stephen Savidant.

The name change is subject to shareholder approval at an upcoming annual and special meeting of shareholders. The company would continue to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “EEE”.

Also Friday, the company said that the board had adopted a Shareholders’ Rights Plan, which is “designed to encourage the fair treatment of shareholders if there were to be an unsolicited take-over bid for Canadian 88’s shares.” The plan replaces a previous plan, which was waived by the board in March 2000.

In a statement, the company said, “the Shareholders’ Rights Plan is not being implemented in response to any proposals, inquiries or expressions of interest received from any third party and Canadian 88 is not aware of any third party which is currently considering or preparing any proposal to acquire control of Canadian 88.

The new plan allows a potential bidder to make a “permitted bid” directly to all shareholders without prior approval of the board. The bid would remain open for at least 45 days. It is being mailed to shareholders in conjunction with the upcoming annual and special meeting of shareholders to be held on May 8, and is subject to their approval.

Until last year, Duke Energy had been a 19% stakeholder in the small independent, forming an alliance to market gas production in the region. However, Duke last spring sold its shares to an underwriting syndicate (see Daily GPI, June 10, 2002). Duke had helped Canadian 88 also fend off a takeover attempt by its founder Greg Noval and his company, Canadian Superior Energy Inc., in 2001 (see Daily GPI, May 14, 2001).

Last September, as Canadian 88 began to regroup and trim its budget, it sold off about 750,000 acres along Canada’s East Coast so that it could begin to concentrate on exploration and production in the Western Sedimentary Basin (see Daily GPI, Sept. 10, 2002).

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