Spain’s Gas Natural divests Mexican assets worth $1.2 billion
26 Dec 2009
Spanish energy company, Gas Natural SDG SA agreed to sell part of its power generation business in Mexico to Japan's Mitsui & Co and Tokyo Gas for $1.225 billion in order to reduce its debt burden consequential to the acquisition of Unión Fenosa SA, another Spanish utility, a year ago.
Under the terms, Mitsui and Tokyo Gas would acquire 76 per cent stake in the assets through a capital injection early next year and also would have the right to execute a purchase option, or Gas Natural a sale option, for the remaining 24 per cent.
The company would also get $240 million in cash through the repayment of debts and shareholder's contributions.
Gas Natural had announced divestiture worth $5.2 billion when it bought Unión Fenosa in 2008 to create a large integrated energy group complementing each others activities and geographic positioning and covering different markets for gas and electricity.
In April 2009, the company acquired an additional 45.2 per cent of Unión Fenosa, increasing its stake to 95.2 per cent and giving it effective control. Unión Fenosa was merged into Gas Natural in September 2009.
Further to the sale of the Mexican assets, the only regulatory divestiture outstanding is that of 2,000 mega watt (MW) of combined cycle gas turbine capacity in Spain, the company said in a statement.
