ExxonMobil’s takeover of InterOil hits a snag

ExxonMobil’s US$2.5 billion takeover of InterOil has taken a hit after a Canadian appeals court overturned an earlier supreme court approval for the transaction to proceed.

On 7 October, the Supreme Court of Yukon approved the takeover — after about 80% of InterOil shareholders had already voted in favour of the ExxonMobil deal.

An appeal was then lodged in the Court of Appeal of Yukon by InterOil’s co-founder and former chief executive Phil Mulacek who, according to the court, argued that the transaction was “fundamentally unfair to the (InterOil) shareholders”.

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