Thai PTTEP buys $2.3 billion stake in Statoil oil sands (Bloomberg)
BANGKOK/CALGARY |
Norway's Statoil will remain majority owner and operate the Kai Kos Dehseh project in northern Alberta, which it bought in 2007, according to the deal announced on Tuesday.
The investment by PTTEP, the exploration and production unit of state-owned PTT Pcl (PTT.BK), is Thailand's first into Canada's oil sands, the largest crude oil source outside the Middle East.
Asian state oil firms have invested billions of dollars in oil sands projects as they seek to fuel their booming economies.
This latest deal will be the largest ever offshore investment by a Thai company, surpassing the $1.9 billion purchase of Australia's Centennial Coal by Banpu (BANP.BK) this year, according to Thomson Reuters data.
"We view them as a new player with a fresh set of ideas," Statoil Canada's president Lars Christian Bacher said in an interview. "Technology development has always been part of Statoil's DNA and both companies are on the same page when it comes to driving technology development."
The industry as a whole wants to improve production techniques and cut costs as well as boost the environmental performance of oil sands, which are a heavy, high-carbon energy source that needs extensive processing and refining.
PTTEP, valued at $20 billion and 65 percent-owned by its parent, is among Asia's top 10 explorers and competes with big Chinese oil firms such as CNOOC (0883.HK) and Sinopec (0386.HK).
It plans to finance the deal with $800 million of bonds and seeking $500 million in loans this week from four foreign banks, Chief Executive Anon Sirisaengtaksin told reporters.
It will also use $1.5 billion in cash, he added, noting PTTEP's cash flow of about $3.3 billion a year.
"The acquisition will obviously be a major boost to PTTEP," said Adithep Vanabriksha, chief investment officer at Aberdeen Asset Management, which oversees $900 million in Thai assets for its UK-based parent and owns about 8 percent of PTTEP's stock.
"The key growth opportunity for PTTEP mostly derives from overseas acquisitions," he added.
EXPENSIVE DEAL?
Some industry analysts questioned the value of the deal for PTTEP, whose shares were down 2.5 percent to underperform a 1.6 percent loss in Thailand's stock market .SETI.
"It's quite expensive," said Supanna Suwankird, analyst at Thanachart Securities in Bangkok, referring to the deal's enterprise value as a ratio of production.
No comments:
Post a Comment