The Puma Energy bitumen business in Australia is not impacted by the sale
Image: Puma Energy to sell most of its Australian business to Chevron. Photo: courtesy of Jonathan Glynn-Smith/Wikimedia.org.
Chevron has agreed to acquire Australian commercial and retail fuels business of Puma Energy for A$425m ($292m).
Under the terms of the deal, the Australian arm of Chevron will acquire a network of petrol stations and fuel distribution businesses, including storage and import terminals in the country.
Chevron downstream & chemicals executive vice president Mark Nelson said: “The acquisition will provide Chevron with a stable market for production volumes from our refining joint ventures in Asia and create a foundation for sustainable earnings growth.
“It will build on Chevron’s strong history of partnership in Australia and our global experience in fuels and convenience marketing and supply.”
Puma Energy said that it is their priority is to ensure a transparent and seamless transition of operations to Chevron for all employees, customers and business associates in Australia.
The company expects to use the proceeds of the sale to pay down debt, in line with the company’s capital structure policy.
Puma Energy CEO Emma FitzGerald said: “This transaction marks another positive step forward in Puma Energy’s commitment to optimise our global portfolio and deleverage our balance sheet by the end of 2020.
“This follows the sale of our business operations in Indonesia and Paraguay, enabling us to pay down our debt and ensure we’re focused on those markets which will drive growth as part of our customer-focused five-year strategy.”
The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2020, subject to regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
For the transaction, BofA Securities served as financial adviser to Puma Energy while Allens acted as legal adviser.
Puma Energy announced the sale of Puma Energy Paraguay in October
In October, Puma Energy had announced the sale of its business operations in Paraguay to Impala Terminals Group, a joint venture between Trafigura and IFM Global Infrastructure Fund for $200m.