$1.56 Billion Bid for Ashland Oil

The wealthy Belzberg family of Canada today offered to acquire Ashland Oil Inc. for at least $60 a share, or about $1.56 billion. The offer came in a letter to Ashland Chairman John R. Hall from Samuel Belzberg, chairman of First City Financial Corp., the Belzberg family’s principal holding company.

Ashland had no immediate comment on the proposal, a spokeswoman said. The letter was included in a filing First City made with the Securities and Exchange Commission in which the company disclosed that it already owns 9.2% of Ashland’s approximately 28.6 million common shares outstanding.