BP sure of smooth completion in new sale bid

November 15, 2009 11:37:21 AM

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Outgoing oil operator BP South West Pacific Ltd said it is expecting no hiccups in its second attempt to sell off its Pacific business. 

BPSWPL general manager Matt Elliott recently revealed that the company had signed a Sales and Purchase Agreement with a Tahitian-based company called Pacific Petroleum Company.

“BP expects no issues in completing the deal successfully with PPC,” Elliott told Fiji Live. “We have signed the Sales and Purchase Agreement PPC, which operates in New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and we have to get regulatory approval from six countries which we are working on at the moment.” 

The attempt by BSWPL to divest shares in its Pacific operations met some complications when the buyer it chose – Fijian Holdings Ltd – failed to secure financing for the $190 million deal, causing the sale to hang in limbo for almost a year before both parties decided to abort it.

Now, it has eluded Fijian hands and, for an undisclosed sum, has landed in the hands of PPC, which is already involved in the energy business and represented by its principal interest French Polynesian businessman Albert Moux. 

“We hope to finalise everything in six month’s time,” said Elliott. “The sale of BPSWP Ltd is a share sale, and PPC will take over the full business, including aviation and ground fuels.  The sale covers six countries: Fiji, American Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and the Cook Islands.”

Elliot said BPSWPL had received expressions of interest from a number of parties after the deal with FHL fell through.