Dong Energy A/S agreed to sell its oil and gas operations to Ineos AG, the world’s fourth-largest chemicals company, controlled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, allowing the Danish energy utility to pursue its plans to focus on renewable energy.
Dong is to divest the entire share capital in its exploration and production unit to Ineos for an unconditional payment of US$1.05 billion on a cash and debt-free basis, and a contingent payment of US$150 million related to a stabilization plant in Denmark.
The deal also includes a contingent payment of up to US$100 million, subject to the development of the Rosebank field, the company said yesterday.
Ratcliffe, the founder and chairman of Ineos, said that Dong’s oil and gas assets are a “natural fit” for the petrochemical company as it continues to expand its upstream operations.
The Dong transaction provides Ineos with a “strong portfolio of long life assets, and a very good mix of existing production and developments across the North Sea,” he said.
People familiar in March told Bloomberg that Ineos might buy Dong’s fossil-fuel assets.
Dong said it would retain all cash flow until June 30 and retain all hedge contracts related to the oil and gas business.
“Since the decision in 2016 to divest our upstream oil and gas business, we’ve actively worked to get the best transaction by selling the business as a whole, getting a good and fair price for it, and ensuring the optimal conditions for the long-term development of the oil and gas business,” Dong CEO Henrik Poulsen said in the statement. “With the agreement with Ineos, we’ve obtained just that.”
Petrochemical producer Ineos has been expanding in oil and gas exploration, buying a portfolio of 15 UK licenses from Engie SA this year.
The company’s products are used to make paints, plastics, textiles, medicines and electronics, according to its Web site.
JPMorgan & Co acted as exclusive financial adviser to the company in connection with the deal, Dong said, adding that the transaction would not affect Dong’s full-year guidance.
Of the US$1.05 billion to be paid, US$250 million is due to be transferred from 2018 to 2020, Dong said, adding that the deal, which still requires regulatory approval, is expected to go through in the third quarter of this year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day