It then began a series of manouvres to acquire a controlling ownership interest in its new acquisition, through a share swap.

"BP will now apply for a determination whether the share swap may proceed on its own," the company said on its website.

Last year, Yahoo's shares were valued so highly it could have bought its own media company in a share swap.

In 1995 Locus was acquired by Platinum Technology Inc. in a share swap.

The bank last month offered to buy out minority shareholders in a one-for-one share swap.

The share swap will immediately follow.

The share swap would take place five business days after either company seeks it, unless shareholders void the merger.

Then Celcom announced today that it would soon buy Telekom Malaysia's cellular unit in another share swap.

The company was transferred to a separate entity, Eircell 2000 plc which was then sold to Vodafone through a share swap.

The merger is structured as a share swap and, if approved, will leave current Molson shareholders owning about 55 percent of the new company.