Repsol Sells Chile Unit

Repsol said it has reached an agreement with a consortium of Chilean investors, led by LarrainVial, for the sale of 100% of its subsidiary Repsol Butano Chile for approximately $540 million.

Repsol Butano Chile holds a 45% stake of Lipigas, a company present in the Chilean LPG commercialization market, in addition to other financial assets.

The deal will generate a net capital gain of $170 million and reduce the Repsol Goup’s debt by approximately $317 million.

This transaction is part of the divestment of non-strategic assets included in Repsol’s 2012-2016 Strategic Plan, which aims for up 4.5 billion euros of divestment for the period. These divestments, which already amount to 1.85 billion euros, together with other measures, aim to improve the financial structure of the group and to fund planned investments in exploration and production, the company’s growth engine.

The sale agreement for Repsol Butano Chile is the first divestment Repsol has carried out since the presentation of its new strategic plan. It is a new step in the divestment process of non-integrated downstream assets in Latin America, through which the company has raised nearly 1.75 billion dollars since 2007, including this operation which is expected to be completed on July 27 2012, subject to conditions common to this type of transactions.

[mappress]
LNG World News Staff, July 19, 2012