Reliance Says It'll Get $990 Million From BP in Fuel Retail Deal
Ambani also announced that Saudi Aramco agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in Reliance’s oil refining and petrochemicals division.
(Bloomberg) -- Reliance Industries Ltd. will receive 70 billion rupees ($990 million) from BP Plc in a deal announced last week that gives the European oil major a 49% stake in the Indian conglomerate’s fuel retail business.
Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced the value of the deal for the first time at the company’s annual meeting Monday. The companies last week said they’d agreed to form a new joint venture that will take over 1,400 retail fuel stations run by Reliance along with its aviation fuels operations at more than 30 airports across India. The partners plan to expand the fuel retailing network to as many as 5,500 stations over the next five years.
The companies expect final agreements for the joint venture this year and to complete the transaction in the first half of 2020. Reliance will hold 51% in the new venture, while BP will own the remainder.
Ambani also announced Monday that Saudi Aramco agreed to buy a 20% stake in Reliance’s oil refining and petrochemicals division. Reliance values the unit at $75 billion including debt, implying a $15 billion valuation for the stake. Reliance’s share of the fuel retail venture is included in the Aramco deal, he said.
--With assistance from Dan Murtaugh.
To contact the reporter on this story: Debjit Chakraborty in New Delhi at dchakrabor10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Phoebe Sedgman, Aaron Clark
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