Cenovus to replace CEO -The Asian Age

Cenovus Energy Inc said on Tuesday it would replace Chief Executive Brian Ferguson, who championed an unpopular purchase of western Canadian oil sands assets, and its shares tumbled nearly 9 percent. Ferguson will remain CEO until October while Cenovus searches for a new leader, then stay on in an advisory role until March 2018, the company said.

It was the stock's biggest one-day percentage decline since March, when Cenovus announced plans to spend $13.3 billion to buy the oil-sands assets from ConocoPhillips in a deal that doubled the company's size. The company's decision to announce Ferguson's departure without naming his successor upset investors looking for quick change at Cenovus. "There's no natural heir, they have not done a very good job of succession planning," said Laura Lau, senior portfolio manager at Brompton Group, which owns Cenovus shares. "Unfortunately he is almost a lame duck."

Investors have rejected Ferguson's rationale for expanding in Canada's high-cost oil sands at a time when global crude prices remain weak and international energy firms are exiting the region. They complained the deal saddled Cenovus' pristine balance sheet with debt and brought it into natural gas operations, an area where the company has no experience.

-Reuters, Calgary