- Vermilion currently pays a dividend just shy of 6%
- The company did not cut the dividend in the last crude price downturn
- Vermilion has just made an offer to acquire Spartan Energy, a light oil producer in Saskatchewan for $1.4 billion
- The purchase will be immediately accretive to Vermilion as Spartan is trading at a much lower valuation
- Analysts do not expect another competing bid for Spartan as there is a $40 million breakup fee if the deal falls through
- This purchase will add an additional 23,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent taking its new output to 95,000 barrels per day
- Vermilion currently operates in France, Holland, Germany, Ireland and Australia where it receives the higher Brent crude price