Spain: Repsol and Criteria Caixa to sell 20% of Gas Natural
Energy giant Repsol and holding company Criteria Caixa are in talks to sell up to 20% of Gas Natural to various investors.
Repsol and Criteria, owner of Caixabank, would each sell around 10% of Gas Natural, a Spanish natural gas utilities company, with a potential bidder being Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), reports Reuters.
A 20% stake in Gas Natural currently has a market value of around 3.8 billion euros ($4.2 billion).
If the two companies where to sell 10% stakes of Gas Natural, they would still keep an important percentage of the entity – Repsol currently owns 30% of the company, while Criteria holds a 34 percent stake.
In an effort to reduce its debt, and due to the difficult situation in the world petroleum market, Repsol has been forced to sell a number of assets during the last year.
