Unocal says it was ready to accept higher CNOOC offer

NEW YORK (Dow Jones/AP) _ Unocal says it was ready to approve a merger agreement with CNOOC had the Chinese state-owned oil company sufficiently raised its $67-a -share bid. <br/><br/>The revelation comes

Monday, July 25th 2005, 10:39 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (Dow Jones/AP) _ Unocal says it was ready to approve a merger agreement with CNOOC had the Chinese state-owned oil company sufficiently raised its $67-a -share bid.

The revelation comes in a proxy statement filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The statement says the companies ``substantially completed'' a draft merger agreement by mid-July that would have displaced Chevron's bid for the El Segundo-based oil company.

Unocal Chief Executive Charles Williamson told CNOOC Chief Executive Fu Chengyu on July 15th that a deal likely could be made if he raised the price.

CNOOC refused to budge, unless Unocal paid the costs of terminating the Chevron deal and lobbied for the deal in Congress _ steps Unocal said it couldn't take.

In the end, Chevron raised its cash-and-stock offer to about 63-dollars a share. On July 20th, Unocal's board accepted Chevron's higher offer and recommended shareholders approve it.