History
Crescent Point grew through Torquay-era deals, shrank through asset sales, rebuilt around Kaybob Duvernay, became Veren, and in March 2025 agreed to be acquired by Whitecap.
2014-2016: Torquay deals and bought deals
The record opens in April 2014, when the company announced what it called a significant Torquay discovery. Nine days later it announced a "strategic Torquay consolidation", the purchase of CanEra Energy Corp., and raised its 2014 guidance. In June 2014 it closed a private placement of notes, a debt raise.
The pattern repeated in 2015. In June it closed a bought deal, a share offering sold through underwriters, and in July it announced the purchase of Coral Hill Energy Ltd. with higher 2015 guidance. A second bought deal closed in September 2016, and in November the company reported an expanded Flat Lake area and strong drilling results in the Uinta Basin. The disclosures in this period give no sizes, prices or share counts, so the cost to existing shareholders is not shown.
2017-2020: A new team and asset sales
The record is quiet for 2017 and 2018. In January 2019 the company set a 2019 capital budget of $1.20 to $1.30 billion, about 30% below the prior year, with production guidance of 170,000 to 174,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d). Craig Bryksa was named President and CEO, and the release referred to "the new team". The monthly dividend of CDN$0.03 held since 2014 was replaced by a quarterly CDN$0.01. The board approved a share buyback, and the Toronto Stock Exchange accepted a bid to buy back up to 38,424,678 shares, with 550,611,816 outstanding in mid-January. The company said it had sold about 7,000 boe/d of assets in 2018 for about $355 million and was exploring more sales.
Those sales followed. In October 2019 it closed the sale of its Uinta Basin asset and some non-core southeast Saskatchewan assets. In January 2020 it closed the sale of Saskatchewan gas infrastructure for $500 million cash. Shares on issue fell from about 550 million at the end of 2018 to about 529 million at the end of 2019.
In September 2020 the company said it had restored all the production it shut in during the second quarter. It raised 2020 guidance to 119,000-121,000 boe/d and expected about $600 million of net debt reduction for the year.
2021-2023: Rebuilding around Kaybob
In February 2021 the company agreed to buy Shell Canada Energy's Kaybob Duvernay assets in Alberta for $900 million: $700 million in cash from its credit facility and 50 million new shares. The deal closed on April 1, 2021, adding about 30,000 boe/d and leaving Shell with about 8.6% of the company. Shares on issue rose from about 530 million to about 579 million by year end. In June 2021 it sold its remaining southeast Saskatchewan conventional assets for $93 million, cutting its asset retirement obligations (future clean-up costs) by about $220 million.
In July 2022 it raised its quarterly base dividend to $0.08 and said it would target returning up to 50% of discretionary excess cash flow. It had bought back about 17.5 million shares for about $150 million since December 2021, and it sold Viking and East Shale Duvernay assets for about $300 million combined. Shares on issue fell to about 551 million by the end of 2022.
In December 2022 it agreed to buy more Kaybob Duvernay assets from Paramount Resources for $375 million cash, raised the base dividend 25% to $0.10, and renewed its $2.36 billion credit facilities to November 2026. In August 2023 it agreed to sell its North Dakota assets for US$500 million to repay debt. It said it had bought $3.0 billion of Kaybob Duvernay and Alberta Montney assets since 2018, funded by about $2.7 billion of non-core sales.
In November 2023 it sold 48,550,000 new shares at $10.30 for about CDN$500 million, to help fund the roughly CDN$2.55 billion purchase of Hammerhead Energy Inc., and filed the formal agreement for that deal. Shares on issue ended 2023 at about 620 million. Net debt was $3.74 billion at year end.
2024-2025: Veren and the Whitecap deal
In the first quarter of 2024 the company sold its Swan Hills and Turner Valley assets for $140 million. In May it agreed to sell Saskatchewan assets, including Flat Lake and Battrum, to Saturn Oil & Gas for $600 million, cutting 2024 production guidance to 191,000-199,000 boe/d. Proceeds were meant for debt, with pro-forma year-end 2024 net debt of $2.8 billion. The filings do not show whether that was reached.
By June 2024 the company was named Veren Inc.; the filings do not explain the change. That month it priced CDN$1.0 billion of senior unsecured notes, $550 million at 4.968% due 2029 and $450 million at 5.503% due 2034, to repay debt including its bank term loan, and cited a BBB (low) Stable rating from Morningstar DBRS. The base dividend had been raised 15% to $0.115 a quarter. Shares on issue stood at about 612 million at the end of 2024.
On March 9, 2025, Veren agreed to be acquired by Whitecap Resources Inc. in an all-share deal at 1.05 Whitecap shares per Veren share, leaving Veren holders with about 52% of the combined company. As of March 20, 2025 the deal still needed a 66⅔% Veren shareholder vote, a Whitecap vote, court approval, TSX listing approval and Competition Act clearance. Meetings were planned for May 6, with closing expected on or before May 12, 2025. A $200 million termination fee applied in certain circumstances.
Written from the 23 story beats below (2014 to 20 Mar 2025), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.