Repsol Agrees to Divest Final Gas Natural Stake

Repsol announced February 22 it had agreed to sell its final 20.072% stake in Spanish energy marketer Gas Natural to a subsidiary of private equity fund CVC for €3.816bn ($4.7bn), equivalent to €19 per share.

The Spanish oil company said it had realised a €400mn net gain from the sale of its stake. A sale to CVC had been expected since a report in Spanish business newspaper Expansion last month; the sale value was less than originally expected.

The closing of the sale is condition on certain conditions among which, that the sale is approved by regulators in  Mexico, South Korea, Japan and Germany within the next six months, and that a new shareholder agreement is reached with other GN shareholders Criteria Caixa and New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners no later than March 22. Once completed, Repsol will cease to be a GN shareholder. It has long toyed with the idea of divesting its final stake in GN but usually held back on the basis it is a hedge against a downturn in its core oil business. GN said that Repsol has been a core shareholder since 1989. It said that Repsol CEO Josu Jon Imaz  and Repsol CFO Miguel Martinez had resigned from GN's board with effect February 22.

GN separately said it completed February 22 the sale of its Italian energy marketing subsidiary GNVI to EDF-owned Edison. It announced that planned sale -- and that of its Italian gas distribution interests to 2i Rete Gas -- in October 2017 for around €1bn. The sale to 2i Rete Gas was completed three weeks earlier on February 1.