Abu Dhabi Drops Cepsa Flotation
Plans for a flotation of Spain’s second-largest oil and gas group Cepsa have been dropped by its Mideast Gulf parent company.
Abu Dhabi state-owned Mubadala – Cepsa’s sole owner – said October 15 it has now abandoned a plan, unveiled a month ago, to float at least 25% of Cepsa stock for sale and said that therefore its planned admission to the stock markets in Spain has been “postponed”. Mubadala issued no statement for pulling the flotation, but weaker share markets worldwide are reported to have been a factor.
“Mubadala actively manages its portfolio and pursues monetisation opportunities for its assets at the right time within their respective growth trajectories to optimize the capital structure for strategic assets and to capture value for its shareholder. The proposed IPO [initial public offering] of Cepsa is in line with this mandate,” the Abu Dhabi firm had said on September 18.
Cepsa was acquired by Abu Dhabi state IPIC in 2011; the latter was merged into Mubadala last year. The Spanish subsidiary has upstream, refining and chemicals interests and is also an active gas marketer; it is particularly active upstream in Algeria where it and Total produced first gas at the 1.8bn m3/yr Timimoun field in February 2018 and have since been awarded additional nearby acreage.