American Funds, T. Rowe win big in oil M&A deal

American Funds and T. Rowe Price Group Inc. were the big mutual fund winners in Chinese offshore oil producer CNOOC Ltd's announcement last week of plans to buy Nexen Inc. On July 23, CNOOC said it would buy the Canadian oil producer for $27.50 a share, a 61% premium over the previous Friday's closing price of $17.06. Shares were up 53% in pre-market trading last Monday. The deal was cause for celebration at American Funds and T. Rowe Price, the two largest shareholders of Nexen. The American Funds EuroPacific Growth Fund (AEPGX) was the largest single shareholder, with more than 21 million shares, or 3.98% of Nexen's total shares, as of June 30, according to Morningstar Inc. The American Funds Growth Fund of America (AGTHX) held 6.4 million shares, making it the fourth-biggest shareholder, although it missed out on even bigger gains by reducing its holding of Nexen by 48% from March 31 to June 30, according to Morningstar. While the American Funds EuroPacific Growth Fund may be the biggest shareholder, the T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value Fund (TRMCX) likely will receive the biggest performance boost. It held almost 10,190,000 shares as of March 31, which made it the second-biggest single shareholder and accounted for 2.14% of its total assets, compared with 0.38% of total assets for EuroPacific Growth Fund. The T. Rowe Price Value Fund (TRVLX) was the third-largest shareholder, with 6.7 million shares. jkephart@investmentnews.com Twitter: @jasonkephart