UPDATE:Sinopec Group Sounds Out Bankers On Repsol Stake-Sources
23 1월 2009 - 11:00PM
Dow Jones News
China Petrochemical Corp., known as Sinopec, has spoken to
bankers in Beijing and Hong Kong about a possible bid for a stake
in Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA (REP), two people familiar
with the situation said Friday.
"Sinopec is looking to buy a stake in Repsol, but has yet to
appoint an advising bank," one of the people said.
A Sinopec official, who declined to be named, said contact had
been made with bankers and more information could be made public
soon, but declined to elaborate.
A Repsol official declined to comment, while calls to Sinopec's
general office were unanswered.
Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias reported Jan. 14 that Sinopec is
negotiating to buy the 20% stake in Repsol held by Spanish builder
Sacyr Vallehermoso SA (SYV.MC).
The report said Sacyr was in talks with the Chinese company
after negotiations with Russia's OAO Lukoil (LKOH.RS) over a sale
seemed to have stalled.
The report also said Sacyr has asked Sinopec for EUR26.7 per
Repsol share, the same price the construction company paid when it
bought the shares, and the same price it had sought from
Lukoil.
Sacyr in 2006 paid EUR6.53 billion for its 20% stake in Repsol.
Yet, based on Repsol's market capitalization of EUR16.6 billion
Friday, the current market value of Sacyr's 20% stake would only be
EUR3.3 billion.
Repsol shares fell 1.3% to EUR13.64 in Madrid at 1254 GMT
Friday.
A Sacyr spokesman declined to comment, reiterating previous
statements that the company is studying a potential sale of its
Repsol stake.
State-owned Sinopec is the parent company of China Petroleum
& Chemical Corp. (SNP), or Sinopec Corp., which is listed in
Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Spanish savings bank La Caixa, which holds a 14.1% indirect
stake in Repsol and was previously also looking to sell all or some
of its stake, said in a filing to the Spanish market regulator late
December that it is no longer in such talks.
Lukoil sought to strike a joint deal with Sacyr and La Caixa to
buy a total stake of 29.9%.
But the potential deal ran into financing difficulties and also
met with opposition from Spain's government. Finance Minister Pedro
Solbes said in November he would prefer shareholders in Repsol and
other Spanish companies that came from economies similar to Spain's
and open to foreign investment.
Earlier that month, Solbes had cautioned against a possible
purchase of a Repsol stake by Russian-government controlled OAO
Gazprom (GAZP.RS). Solbes argued Repsol shouldn't end up in the
hands of a foreign state-owned company, after the Spanish oil firm
was privatized in the 1990s.
Asked to comment on a possible purchase of Sacyr's stake by
Sinopec, Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian said earlier
this week that the government hadn't heard of any planned deal
related to Repsol.
Repsol has close to 1.2 million barrels a day refining capacity
in Spain and Latin America. The firm also has stakes in ultradeep
offshore blocks in Brazil's Santos Basin, where potentially
gigantic discoveries have been made recently.
-Nisha Gopalan and Jing Yang, Dow Jones Newswires;
852-2832-2343; nisha.gopalan@dowjones.com; (8621) 6120 1200
(Bernd Radowitz and Santiago Perez in Madrid contributed to this
article.)
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