Devon Energy Corp. said Friday that it exercised its right to acquire the remaining exchangeable shares of its Canadian unit Northstar Energy Corp., which it merged with in 1998.

The move was prompted by Northstar’s authorization of a shareholder vote to consider an internal reorganization, which triggered an automatic redemption date for the outstanding exchangeable shares.

The shares will be exchanged for Devon common shares on a one-for-one basis on Aug. 27, the energy company said. The exchangeable shares were issued in conjunction with the Devon-Northstar merger in 1998, which catapulted Devon into the top 15 of all U.S. based independent gas producers in terms of market capitalization and reserves. Today Devon is the largest U.S. based independent, following the purchases of Ocean Energy in 2003, Mitchell Energy in 2002, Anderson Exploration in 2001, Santa Fe Snyder in 2000 and PennzEnergy in 1999.

Devon said about 1.4 million exchangeable shares remain outstanding of the original 16.1 million Northstar shares issued. The shares are already included in Devon’s outstanding share count, the company said. Therefore, no change in the number of shares outstanding will result from the exchange.

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