Vermilion Energy to buy Spartan Energy in C$1.4 bln deal

Oil and gas producer Vermilion EnergyInc said it would buy rival Spartan Energy Corp in a deal valued at C$1.40 billion ($1.11 billion),boosting its presence in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

As part of the deal, Vermilion will offer C$1.23 billion ofits own shares and assume C$175 million of Spartan's debt.

Spartan shareholders will get 0.1476 of a Vermilion sharefor each share they own, Vermilion said in a statement.

Spartan, which is a southeast Saskatchewan oil and gasproducer, has annual production of about 23,000 barrels of oilequivalent per day boe/d.

In January, Calgary, Alberta-based Vermilion signed a dealto buy a privately-held producer in the same province for C$90.8million​.

(Reporting by John Benny in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silvaand Supriya Kurane)