The battle to buy the last of Canada’s large pure-play oil sands producers may not be quite over yet.

Last week, MEG Energy Corp. MEG-T accepted a friendly $7-billion takeover offer from Cenovus Energy Inc. CVE-T two months after rejecting a hostile bid from Strathcona Resources Ltd. SCR-T that was worth nearly $6-billion. But late Thursday, Strathcona announced plans to acquire several hundred million dollars worth of MEG stock in order to vote against the Cenovus deal.

Strathcona already owns 9.2 per cent of MEG and is planning to increase that stake to 14.2 per cent. At current market value, acquiring an additional 5 per cent of MEG will cost Strathcona more than $350-million.

At least two-thirds of MEG investors will need to support the sale to Cenovus at an Oct. 9 meeting

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