Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp) today announced the sale of its 12.5 per cent stake in Bahrain National Gas Company (Banagas) to Kuwait-based Boubyan Petrochemical Company.

The divestment was recently approved by Apicorp’s Board of Directors. The government of Bahrain has a 3 per cent stake in Apicorp. The value of the transaction was not revealed.

Apicorp  is the multilateral development bank of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (Oapec).

Ahmad Bin Hamad Al-Nuaimi, chief executive and general manager of Apicorp, said: “Since we invested in Banagas 33 years ago, we have seen the company evolve into a highly successful leading local, regional and international company.  As a result of its continued success, we feel it is appropriate to monetise our share in Banagas by transferring it to a strategic GCC-based investor so that we can advance our plans to initiate and develop other oil and gas projects.”

Banagas was founded by the Government of Bahrain currently represented by the National Oil and Gas Holding Company (nogaholding), Chevron and Apicorp in 1978 with stakes of 75 per cent, 12.5 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively.  The company’s principal business covers  extracting and marketing propane, butane and naphtha, by processing associated gas from Bahrain’s oil field, for the local, regional and international markets.

“In order to ensure a market-driven sale value for our shareholders, Apicorp implemented a highly successful three stage auction process in which a high number of regional and international companies participated.  In the end, Boubyan, a strategic regional company specialized in chemicals and petrochemicals from Kuwait, won with the most competitive bid,” said Al-Nuaimi. 

Dabbous Mubarak Al-Dabbous, deputy chairman of Boubyan said: “This investment represents the reinforcement of Boubyan’s commitment to its strategy of making strategic direct investments in successful ventures in the chemical, petrochemical, and oil and gas sectors, especially in the hydrocarbon-rich GCC region.”

Commenting on the sale of Apicorp shares, Dr Shaikh Mohamed Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, general manager of Banagas, said: “We have enjoyed working with Apicorp as a strategic partner for the last 33 years.  We very much appreciate and commend the strong business relationship and teamwork spirit that we have had with Apicorp top management and Board of Directors and wish them every success in implementing their five-year investment strategy.  We also welcome Boubyan Petrochemical as a new strategic partner and look forward to working with them towards achieving Banagas’s future goals and objectives.”

Apicorp’s financial position received a boost recently when an extraordinary general assembly meeting held in Cairo, in May this year, unanimously decided to increase its subscribed capital by 173 per cent from $550 million to $1,500 million.  The General Assembly also resolved to double its authorized capital from $1.2 billion to $2.4 billion. Apicorp’s paid-up capital also increased 36 per cent from $550 million to $750 million. - TradeArabia News Service