If at first you don’t succeed, flash a fat wallet and try again. Seven years after dropping its bid for Unocaldue to political opposition in the US, China’s Cnoochas tabled a $15bn offer for Nexen, an oil explorer in Canada – also hostile territory for foreign takeovers. Judging by the accompanying love-bombs – Cnooc will list its shares in Toronto and make Calgary its North America hub – Beijing, Cnooc’s main shareholder, does not intend to lose this one.
如果第一次未能得手,那就亮出鼓鼓的錢包,再接再厲。7年前因美國政界反對而放棄競購優尼科(Unocal)的中海油(Cnooc),這次出價150億美元,要收購加拿大石油勘探企業尼克森(Nexen),而加拿大也是一片對外國收購持敵意的國土。從附帶的「愛之炸彈」來判斷——中海油將尋求在多倫多上市,並把其北美總部設在卡爾加里——中海油的主要股東中國政府對這筆交易志在必得。