CALGARY, Alberta – Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX: CVE) (NYSE: CVE) has completed a public offering in the United States (the “Offering”) of US$1,250,000,000 in senior notes, consisting of US$500,000,000 of 2.650% senior unsecured notes due 2032 and US$750,000,000 of 3.750% senior unsecured notes due 2052 (collectively, the “Notes”). The Notes were issued under Cenovus’s short form base shelf prospectus dated September 19, 2019 and a prospectus supplement dated September 9, 2021 filed with securities regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States.
Deleveraging remains a top priority for Cenovus. The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to partially finance the repurchase of certain of the company’s outstanding senior notes pursuant to previously announced tender offers. In the event there are any net proceeds of the Offering not used to finance such repurchase of notes, the company intends to use such net proceeds to reduce indebtedness and for general corporate purposes. The company expects it will meet its interim net debt target of $10 billion within 2021, assuming current commodity prices and foreign exchange rates hold. Longer term, the company is focused on a net debt target of $8 billion or lower.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BofA Securities, Inc. and MUFG Securities Americas Inc. acted as active joint book-running managers. The Offering was supported by additional advisors including: BMO Capital Markets Corp., Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., Mizuho Securities USA LLC, CIBC World Markets Corp., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, TD Securities (USA) LLC, ATB Capital Markets Inc., SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC.