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Mubadala Sells Cepsa Stake to Carlyle After Pulling IPO Plan

Carlyle to Buy as Much as 40% of Cepsa From Abu Dhabi's Mubadala

(Bloomberg) -- Carlyle Group LP plans to buy a stake valued at as much as $4.8 billion in Cepsa from Mubadala Investment Co., about six months after the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund shelved plans to list the Spanish oil refiner.

Carlyle will acquire 30 percent to 40 percent of Cepsa, in a deal that gives the company an enterprise value of $12 billion, according to a statement. Mubadala will remain the majority shareholder and the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

Mubadala last year shelved plans for an initial public offering of a 25 percent stake in the Spanish refiner as investors balked at the valuation amid a stock market rout.

Abu Dhabi, the holder of about 6 percent of the world’s oil reserves, has been selling stakes in some assets owned by its wealth funds and oil company. KKR & Co. and BlackRock Inc. in February agreed to invest $4 billion in Abu Dhabi’s oil pipelines.

Italy’s Eni SpA and Austrian oil and gas producer OMV AG agreed to pay about $5.8 billion for a stake in Adnoc’s refining unit, while Baker Hughes said in October it plans to buy a 5 percent stake in Adnoc’s drilling business.

“This is the start of many more things which we, in first place, will discuss with Mubadala, to do together, and not only in oil and gas,” Marcel Van Poecke, head of Carlyle International Energy Partners, said in an interview in Abu Dhabi.

More From Statement:

  • Cepsa is Europe’s largest privately-owned integrated oil & gas company, operating two refineries in Spain
  • Cepsa is also an oil producer in Algeria and operates in Central and South America as well as South East Asia
  • Equity for the investment will come from Carlyle International Energy Partners I & II, Carlyle Partners VII, Carlyle Europe Partners V and co-investors
  • The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals
  • Mubadala says the agreement marks the conclusion of a dual-track process through a public offering and private placement to bring in new partners as part of its portfolio management strategy

“We are very happy with the current partnership with Carlyle, and we will be extremely busy identifying the next steps and activities,” said Musabbeh Al Kaabi, chief executive officer of Mubadala Petroleum & Petrochemicals. The fund doesn’t have any plans at the moment to bring in other investors, he said.

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.