19th May 2016 13:15
LONDON (Alliance News) - BP PLC Thursday said it has sold part of its stake in Castrol India to a range of domestic and international investors, but said it still plans to grow its business in India as it stressed it remains committed to the country.
BP held a 71% stake in Castrol India through its wholly-owned subsidiary Castrol Ltd, which has offloaded an 11.5% stake to reduce BP's holding in Castrol India down to 59.5%.
The FTSE 100-listed oil and gas firm said it plans to keep hold of its majority stake in Castrol India, which is the leading automotive and industrial lubricant manufacturing company in the country, stating there will be "no impact" from the transaction on staff, customers or Castrol India's contracts.
"India is a key market for Castrol with tremendous growth potential and is a major element of our global lubricants business. We will continue to have strategic control of Castrol India and this decision is independent of our upstream investments which we continue to progress. We are investing in India and plan to continue to do so," said Sashi Mukundan, BP's head in India.
BP is the biggest international oil company operating in India, employing a total of around 8,500 people across its various business units.
BP did not state why it has decided to sell down its stake in Castrol India, which delivered a post-tax profit of around USD95.0 million in the last financial year, which in turn had risen by around 30% from the previous year.
The company did not reveal the terms of the deal, including what consideration is being paid.
Omer Dormen, managing director of Castrol India, said trading remains strong and said post-tax profit amounted to around USD26.5 million in the first quarter of 2016.
BP shares were trading down 1.3% to 359.80 pence per share on Thursday afternoon.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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