Petronas Sells $557 Million APA Group Stake

Petroliam Nasional’s Australian unit has sold its 17.3% stake in natural gas infrastructure company APA Group, three people familiar with the sale told Deal Journal Australia.

Morgan Stanley acted as bookrunner for the sale of 111.3 million shares that were sold at A$4.85 each, raising a total of 539.8 million Australian dollars (US$557 million), one of the people said.  The deal price represents a 6.4% discount to APA Group’s Tuesday closing price of A$5.18 a share.

A spokesman for Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, was unreachable for comment Tuesday.

APA is Australia’s largest natural gas infrastructure business operating a network of facilities and pipelines worth A$9 billion. A spokesman for the company declined to comment.

Malaysia’s Petronas said in March that profit fell 36% for its fiscal third quarter in the absence of gains from stock-market listings a year earlier. The state-owned company also warned that a dispute in Sudan is likely to slow production this year.

Petronas has sold at least two minority stakes in entirety in the last 13 months. In April 2011, the company sold a 14.94% stake in Indian oil and gas explorer Cairn India for US$2.1 billion. In February 2012, the Malaysian energy giant sold its 3.9% stake in U.K’s largest supplier of gas and electricity Centrica for around US$932 million.

APA Group is attempting to takeover rival pipeline owner Hastings Diversified Utilities Fund, a transaction that is yet to be approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.