Canada

Canada's Precision Drilling will buy Grey Wolf in cash and stock deal worth over $2B, the companies said, apparently ending an extended fight for control the Houston gas driller. Recently Grey Wolf shareholders spurned a rival offer from Basic Energy Services Inc., a wellsite services company in TX, that would have created a $2.9 B company. Under the new agreement, Precision will pay $1.12 billion cash and 42M shares valued at $896.7M, based on the recent closing price. The new offer involves less cash, but would give Grey Wolf shareholders a larger stake in the new company through a fatter share offering. Though the combined price comes out nearly $1 less than the $10 per-share that Precision offered earlier, the deal gives Grey Wolf shareholders 25% stake in the new company, that will be one of the biggest operators in North America. Precision gets access to land operations in virtually every oil and gas basin in the lower 48 U.S. and Canada, and an emerging presence in Mexico. Precision