Vitol selling $459 million worth of shares in Australia’s Viva Energy

Dutch commodities trading firm Vitol is selling A$714 million ($459 million) worth of shares in Australian fuel retailer Viva Energy (VEA.AX) in a block trade on Tuesday, a term sheet seen by Reuters showed.

Vitol declined to comment while Viva Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The deal is made up of 248.6 million shares, which is 16.1% of Viva Energy’s total shares, at a fixed price of A$2.87 each, according to the term sheet.

The fixed price is a 2% discount to Viva Energy’s closing price on Tuesday and a 9.2% discount to its $A3.16 closing price on Monday.

The deal marks the the largest block trade in Australia since $A1.1 billion worth of Woodside Energy shares were exchanged in June last year, Dealogic data shows.

Vitol will remain Viva Energy’s largest shareholder with about a 30% stake following the deal.

Australian, New Zealand and Asian investors have until 9 p.m. Sydney time and rest of the world investors have until midnight to bid for stock, the term sheet said.

The sale marks Vitol’s first since Viva Energy’s IPO five years ago.

Bank of America and UBS are handling the fully underwritten sale.

($1 = 1.5564 Australian dollars)

 

Source:https://www.reuters.com/