Institutionals buy 16.4 pct in Motor Oil
The Vardinoyiannis family has sold a 16.4 percent stake in the Greek refiner Motor Oil for about 319 million euros, a senior company official said yesterday. The stake was sold at 17.54 euros per share on Friday, Chief Financial Officer Petros Tzannetakis told Reuters. «The placement was very successful. The buyers were almost exclusively foreign institutional investors,» he said. The sale raised Motor Oil’s free float to 32.6 percent. Last week, Motor Oil Holdings exercised its right of first refusal to buy Saudi Aramco’s 16.4 percent direct stake and half share in Petroventure, Aramco’s joint venture with the family in a deal that has not yet been completed. Petroventure has a 51 percent holding in the refiner. Analysts had said Aramco’s exit from Motor Oil would not impact negatively on the country’s second-largest refiner, which has different strategic goals from the Saudi company, focusing on refining operations. Citigroup and NBG International were bookrunners for the placement, with Alpha Finance and Egnatia Securities as co-lead managers.
