The agreement includes the continuation of the sale of butane, propane and autogas under the Cepsa brand and the maintenance of synergies for the production and distribution of products at service stations.
Cepsa has agreed to sell its butane, propane and autogas retail business in Spain and Portugal to Chile's Copec for around 275 million euros (US$302 million), the companies said.
Specifically, the Chilean company Abastible, a subsidiary of Copec, will acquire 100% of this business in both countries from Cepsa, managed through the companies Gasib Spain and Gasib Portugal.
The agreement includes the continuation of the sale of butane, propane and autogas under the Cepsa brand and the maintenance of synergies for the production and distribution of products at service stations.
This operation represents the first investment in Europe in the LPG sector by Copec (Abastible), which has had Banco Santander as its exclusive financial advisor for M&A, financial sources informed Europa Press.
The transaction is subject to compliance with the conditions precedent, which include approval from the Spanish authority for foreign direct investment and the European Commission for free competition, in addition to other conditions that are customary in this type of contract.
The total price to be paid in the operation will amount to 275 million euros (US$ 302 million), subject to possible adjustments that are customary in this type of operation, the Chilean group added.
A FURTHER STEP IN CEPSA'S TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY
Cepsa CEO Maarten Wetselaar said that "this operation is another step in the group's strategy to become a benchmark in the energy transition, promoting investments in sustainable energies, such as green hydrogen or biofuels, businesses that we expect to represent more than half of our activity in 2030."
"The integration of Gasib into Abastible allows it to continue growing within a leading company in the liquefied gas business, with investment capacity and market development in the Iberian Peninsula," he added.
Gasib España is the main player in the unregulated bottled GL business in the country, and Gasib Portugal is the fifth company, by market share, in the Portuguese country.
The companies have six storage and filling plants, two storage plants and more than 200 third-party warehouses, which together allow them to supply the entire Iberian Market, the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, where they achieve sales of close to 240,000 tons per year.
DIVESTMENTS IN TRADITIONAL BUSINESS
In this way, Cepsa is taking a new step in its strategy of divesting assets from its traditional oil business. This year it has already closed the sales of its upstream businesses in Peru and Colombia.
Last year, Cepsa also reached an agreement with France's TotalEnergies to divest its upstream business in the United Arab Emirates, getting rid of its 20% stake in the Satah Al Razboot (SARB), Umm Lulu, Bin Nasher and Al Bateel fields, in a deal valued at around 1.5 billion euros (US$1.648 billion) and which represented the sale of almost 50% of its exploration and production activity.
Cepsa launched its 'Positive Motion' strategy, which foresees investments of between 7,000-8,000 million (US$ 7,694 to US$ 8,793 million) - more than 60% sustainable -, to become a European leader in the production of second-generation biofuels and green hydrogen, and the deployment of a network of ultra-fast electric chargers.
