KARACHI: Shell Pakistan (SPL) said on Wednesday its parent company, Shell Petroleum Company, had signed a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Wafi Energy to sell domestic operations.
Shell Petroleum Company announced its exit from Pakistan in June with the sale of 77 percent shareholding in the local business. The move came after Shell made several announcements about its global operations and after Shell Pakistan suffered losses in 2022 due to exchange rates, the devaluation of the Pakistani rupee, and overdue receivables, and as the country faces a financial crisis and economic slowdown.
The offloading of shares also includes all of SPL’s downstream businesses and SPL’s 26 percent ownership of Pak-Arab Pipeline Company Ltd. (PAPCO). Shell Pakistan is a listed company with market capitalization of over Rs34.35 billion ($124.5 million).
“Shell Petroleum Company Limited (SPCo) has entered into a share purchase agreement dated 31 October, 2023 with Wafi Enregy LLC (Wafi Energy), for the sale of SPCo’s entire shareholding in SPL, comprising 165,700,304 shares and representing 77.42 percent of the issued share capital of SPL,” SPCo. said in a letter dated Oct. 31.
Wafi Energy is a wholly-owned affiliate of Asyad Holding Group, a fuel retailer in Saudi Arabia.
Shell Pakistan’s operations include more than 600 mobility sites, 10 fuel terminals, a lubricant oil blending plant and a 26 percent shareholding in Pak-Arab Pipeline Company Limited.
According to documents submitted at PSX, WAFI is a “fast growing retail gas station network and sole licensee of Shell Retail Network (Gas Stations) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Based in Riyadh, the company was incorporated in September 2012 with paid-up capital of 3 million Saudi Riyal.
WAFI Energy has engaged Arif Habib Limited in Pakistan to manage its acquisition offer.
