Athabasca files for IPO to fund oil sands projects
* Oil sands developer plans IPO
* No date or price set
* Cash to pay for oil sands projects
* Plans C$1.33 bln special dividend before IPO
CALGARY, Alberta, March 1 (Reuters) - Athabasca Oil Sands Corp, which just weeks ago wrapped up a C$1.9 billion ($1.8 billion) sale of a stake in two oil sands projects to PetroChina (601857.SS), said late on Friday it plans an initial public offering to pay for its share of the projects' costs.
The company, whose oil sands holdings in northern Alberta contain as much as 7.1 billion barrels of tarry bitumen, has filed a preliminary prospectus for the IPO with securities regulators. However, the document doesn't specify how much Athabasca is looking to raise or when it expects to sell the shares.
A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment on the proposed initial public offering.
In August, Athabasca agreed to sell majority stakes in the proposed MacKay River and Dover oil sands projects, properties that could eventually produce as much as 500,000 barrels per day, to PetroChina. That deal closed on Feb. 10.
Before the initial public offering, the company plans to distribute C$1.33 billion to existing shareholders as a special dividend.
The dividend plan will need to be approved by current shareholders, including two Luxembourg-based funds controlled by Morton Holdings Inc, which each hold 9 percent of the company, and private Avenir Capital Corp, which has an 8 percent stake. They'll vote on the dividend on March 22.
Athabasca's managers and directors control 21 percent of the company's shares.
The planned offering will be led by a group of underwriters including Morgan Stanley Canada, GMP Securities, FirstEnergy Capital Corp and others.
($1=$1.04 Canadian) (Reporting by Scott Haggett; editing by Peter Galloway)
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