POSCO Int’l buys Senex Energy to boost eco-friendly business
POSCO International has completed the acquisition of Senex Energy, which owns three natural gas fields in Australia, as part of efforts to expand its eco-friendly energy business abroad, the company said, Thursday.
The trading unit of POSCO Group, which purchased a 50.1 percent stake in Australia’s fifthlargest oil and gas company for 442.4 million Australian dollars (400 billion won), expects the latest deal will bolster its corporate value and enable it to become a top-tier energy firm. The company also said it will help Korea better deal with the increasingly unstable global energy supply chain amid soaring prices of crude oil and other natural resources.
“We are happy to announce that the acquisition process has come to an end as the Australian government approved the sale,” a POSCO International official said. “Since we signed the deal in December, global energy prices have soared. This has made it difficult for us to complete the acquisition over the past three months because some Senex shareholders opposed the sale. But in the end, we were able to persuade the firm’s board of directors and major shareholders to stick to the deal.”
The company said it will consider bringing natural gas from Australia into Korea as Senex has the rights to explore and develop more natural gas fields.
“Acquiring Senex is critical for us to secure additional natural gas supplies. It is also the first step toward achieving our carbon neutrality goal,” company CEO Ju Si-bo said. “We will continue to seek opportunities to expand our natural resources business abroad to become a top-tier global energy company.”