The last named regulator said yes. Title still transfers on close
ARC (TSX: ARX) said August 25 that the Government of Canada approved the plan of arrangement with Shell plc and Shell Canada Limited under the Investment Canada Act. That is yesterday's paper. Competition Act, Canada Transportation Act, and U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino approvals were already in. The Alberta Securities Commission had granted Shell exemptive relief on its U.K. and Netherlands buybacks, also a close condition. Shareholders voted yes on July 14. The Court of King's Bench of Alberta issued the final order on July 15.
Close is now expected on or about September 2, subject to customary closing conditions. That is a date, not a done deal. Do not write delisting as a fact until the TSX notice lands.
The April 27 arrangement, later amended June 6, is a cash-and-share takeout valued at about $22 billion including assumed net debt. ARC's April 27 note put the price at $32.80 a share, 75 percent Shell ordinary shares and 25 percent cash, a 27 percent premium to the April 24 TSX close. Shell's same-day note said CAD 8.20 cash and 0.40247 Shell shares per ARC share, about US$13.6 billion of equity and US$16.4 billion of enterprise value after about US$2.8 billion of net debt and leases. Use those issuer numbers. Do not invent a new premium off today's tape.
This is Montney gas and condensate, not a new Kitimat train
Shell said in April the deal adds about 370,000 boe/d, with about 40 percent of last year's ARC volumes as liquids. ARC sits next to Shell's Groundbirch gas, which already feeds LNG Canada. The company said ARC's proved-plus-probable gas could support Shell's LNG growth in Canada. That is optionality. It is not an FID. Annualized synergies in the Shell note were about US$250 million within a year of close. That is a slide until it prints.
Neutral read
ARX is on the listed producer list. Banks were skipped. ICA approval and a September 2 aim are the new facts. Write this as a closing-window file, not as a new basin discovery. Watch the September 2 close notice, whether ARC actually leaves the TSX, and whether Groundbirch-plus-ARC gas shows up as more Kitimat feed or just more AECO.