Saudi Aramco Eyes Minority Stake in Repsol’s Renewables Business
Saudi oil giant Aramco has approached Repsol to express interest in buying a minority stake in the Spanish energy firm’s renewables business, Spain’s business daily Expansion reported on Friday, quoting several market sources.
The entire Repsol Renovables, or Repsol Renewables, is valued at around $6.5 billion (6 billion euros).
Aramco has approached Repsol about a potential acquisition of a minority stake in Repsol Renewables but hasn’t filed a formal offer yet, according to Expansion’s sources.
Repsol has recently received an unsolicited approach from an investor willing to buy a minority stake in its renewables unit. The Spanish firm is in talks to sell a small stake in Repsol Renovables, sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters earlier this month.
Repsol has also retained Spanish banking giant Santander to act as an advisor for the potential sale, the sources told Reuters.
At any rate, Repsol will keep more than 50% of its renewables business.
Two years ago, Repsol sold 25% of Repsol Renovables to Crédit Agricole Assurances and Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) for $979 million (905 million euros).
Last month, Repsol said it would invest $3.2 billion to $4.3 billion (3 billion euros to 4 billion euros) net to organically develop its global portfolio of renewable projects and reach between 9,000 MW and 10,000 MW of installed capacity by 2027. Of this figure, 30% will be in the United States.
Saudi Aramco, for its part, is currently eyeing potential investments in new energies outside Saudi Arabia, the state oil giant’s chief executive officer Amin Nasser said at the end of April.
Apart from deals in the refining and petrochemicals segment, especially in its key crude export market, China, Aramco is looking to invest in the development of new technologies and new energies, including in collaboration with partners outside the Kingdom.
Early this year, Aramco more than doubled funding to its venture capital arm by injecting an additional $4 billion funding. The fresh funding is raising Aramco’s total investment allocation to its unit Aramco Ventures from $3 billion to $7 billion.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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