Singapore, 1 October 2019 – GLOBAL energy company Repsol Downstream Internacional has made its first foray into South-east Asia by buying a substantial stake in a unit of Catalist-listed lubricant manufacturer and trader United Global Ltd for up to US$46.5 million.
Repsol will acquire a 40 per cent stake in United Global’s wholly-owned subsidiary, United Oil Company Pte Ltd, for an initial cash consideration of US$36.5 million, with a further US$10 million payable depending on the delivery of revenue-related earn-out targets for FY2023.
United Global will receive net proceeds of about US$36 million from the deal after deducting all costs and expenses, which will be used to fund future business expansion, investments and acquisitions, the company announced on Monday.
Upon the completion of the deal, United Oil and its subsidiaries (UOC Group) will become a joint-control entity of Madrid-listed Repsol, making it part of one of the top companies in the oil and gas industry.
“Repsol’s position as an international brand with good reputation, recognised products and a good production management in place give us the opportunity to learn a lot from them and value-add to our business,” United Global chief executive officer Jacky Tan told The Business Times (BT).
This places the UOC Group in a strategic position for new growth opportunities by leveraging Repsol’s international brand presence to enhance its production and distribution, United Global said.
Repsol is principally engaged in the production and marketing of oil derivatives while the UOC Group blends, manufactures and distributes lubricants. The joint venture will allow the group to manufacture and supply Repsol’s brand of products across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
“We understand that there is room for growth in South-east Asia and we recognise that the lubricant business here is underdeveloped,” Repsol commercial businesses and chemicals executive managing director Maria Victoria Zingoni told BT.
“Instead of going along with what we had, we decided we could do more by looking for a good local partner, and with the right relationship, we can be part of the growth in South-east Asia,” she said.
Based on the latest unaudited consolidated financial statements for the first half of 2019, the net book value of the UOC Group is around US$29.1 million and its net tangible asset value is around US$29.6 million.
United Global’s net profit for FY18 was about US$7.6 million. Assuming that the deal was completed on Jan 1 last year, it would result in a net profit of US$75 million, including the estimated gain of US$27.2 million from the sale of shares and gains from the remeasurement of the remaining 60 per cent of United Oil valued at US$40.7 million. This translates to US$0.2373 per share.
“We are always thinking of ways about how we can expand our business especially in the Asia-Pacific region and when the opportunity came, we started discussions with Repsol about a year ago and realised we shared the same vision to grow in this area and region,” said Mr Tan.
However, Ms Zingoni pointed out that there may be challenges facing the joint venture, such as integrating two different business cultures. Also, given that Repsol is already a well-established brand, it could be a challenge to represent itself as a joint entity here. “But these are regular challenges that you have every time you start a new business and you want to expand to new geographies with new partners,” she noted.
The proposed disposal is subject to shareholders’ approval at an extraordinary general meeting to be convened. No independent formal valuation was conducted on UOC Group for the deal, United Global said.
United Global called for a trading halt on Monday to announce the deal. Its shares last closed at 47 Singapore cents.