On Aug. 18, Sinopec, China’s state-owned oil and gas company, completed its takeover of Canada’s Addax Petroleum, reported originally here, thereby obtaining oil reserves in Africa and the Middle East. The $7.2 billion deal is China’s largest acquisition of a foreign company, and a clear sign, Vinson & Elkins’ Paul Deemer says, that the country’s state-owned oil companies are ramping up their dealmaking efforts.
For Deemer, a longtime China deal partner, and colleague David Blumental, the Addax deal was the second major oil and gas deal their team has handled for Sinopec in the past year. At the height of the financial crisis last September, Deemer and China practice head Xiao Yong helped Sinopec take over another Canadian energy company, Tanganyika Oil, for $1.9 billion.
