Oil-field waste-management firm Newalta Corp, whose shareholders squashed a rival's hostile takeover bid last week, said yesterday it had struck a friendly deal to acquire Calgary-based Anadime Corp.

Newalta has agreed to pay C$18 million ($12 million) in stock for all the outstanding shares of Anadime plus C$9 million in debt and other liabilities, the company said in a statement. Approximately 2.7 million shares of Newalta will be issued to pay for the transaction, with Anadime shareholders receiving one Newalta share for every six shares tendered.

Anadime's board unanimously approved the offer and officers and directors of the company have agreed to tender their shares, Anadime said. Insiders at Anadime own about 33 per cent of the company's common shares and 17 per cent of its convertible debentures.

The bid for Anadime comes on the heels of a failed takeover offer for Newalta by rival waste-management firm Canadian Crude Separators Inc. Its twice-sweetened bid failed to garner enough shares, with Canadian Crude blaming anti-trust concerns for the lack of shareholder support.

Newalta said on Friday that the failed takeover bid was a "wake-up call" to prod it into more aggressive expansion, especially into eastern Canadian industrial-waste markets, as a way of boosting its share price.

Shares of Newalta, which closed at C$3.10 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday, have traded in a 52-week range of C$3.70 to C$2.40. Anadime closed at 50 Canadian cents on the TSE on Friday, down from a year high of 60 Canadian cents.