Athabasca Oil Sands Closes $400M Debt Financing

Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. (AOSC) completed a $400 million secured debt financing on July 30, 2008, the proceeds of which will fund AOSC's development and appraisal activities over the next two years. AOSC is among the largest leaseholders in the Athabasca region of Alberta, with a 100 per cent working interest in more than 700,000 acres of oil sands leases near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

The financing was led by GMP Securities L.P. and Lehman Brothers Canada Inc. as co-lead agents and included a syndicate of agents comprised of FirstEnergy Capital Corp., Raymond James Ltd., Blackmont Capital Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., Tristone Capital Inc. and Acumen Capital Finance Partners Limited.

AOSC was represented in-house by Anne Schenkenberger, general counsel, and by Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP with a team that included Bill Maslechko and Lindsay Cox (securities) and John Wilmot and Nancy Smith (banking).

The agents were represented by Bennett Jones LLP with a team that included Will Osler and Lisa Ricketts (securities) and Stikeman Elliott LLP with a team that included Maurice Swan and Tim McCormick.

Lawyer(s)

Maurice J. Swan William S. Osler Nancy Smith Lindsay P. Cox William S. Maslechko Timothy McCormick John A. Wilmot Lisa N. Ricketts

Firm(s)

Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP Bennett Jones LLP Stikeman Elliott LLP