HONG KONG (dpa-AFX) - China's largest oil refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP) has agreed to sell 30 percent stake in its retail unit to a group a of 25 investors for 107.1 billion yuan or $17.5 billion.
The Beijing-based company, popularly known as Sinopec, intends to lower its debt using the proceeds from the asset sales. The Chinese government aims to restructure state-run companies by injecting private and foreign investments.
Sinopec said it will sell a 29.99 percent stake of the retail unit, while it will retain 70.1 percent. The retail unit operates more than 30,000 gas stations and 23,000 convenience stores.
The investors include state-backed China Life Insurance, Harvest Fund, Qianhai Golden Bridge Fund and Shenzhen PICC Tencent Munsun Energy Investment Fund. The investors are mostly asset management firms outside the energy business, except natural gas distributor ENN Energy Holdings.
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