Abu Dhabi to sell 25% stake of Spain’s Cepsa

London, UK - Abu Dhabi is pushing ahead with an initial public offering (IPO) for Spanish oil company Cia Espanola de Petroleos SAU (Cepsa), in what could be the largest such deal in a decade.

The emirate’s Mubadala Investment Co will offer a stake of at least 25 per cent in Cepsa in the fourth quarter, the stateowned investor said on Monday in a statement. The Madridbased refiner will list on Spanish exchanges.

Mubadala is proceeding with an IPO rather than a sale after potential bidders were narrowed down to private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP, people familiar with the matter said previously. Cepsa could raise about € 3bn, people said, making it the biggest oil IPO in about ten years, ac- cording to data compiled by Bloomberg. That would value the whole company at as much as € 10bn, handing Abu Dhabi significant paper gains because its funds took full control of the firm in 2011 in a deal valuing it at about € 7.5bn.

A unit of Mubadala acquired the almost 90 year old Cepsa amid a push to invest in downstream industries such as oil refining to ensure future demand for crude from the UAE.

Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Banco Santander SA and Morgan Stanley are joint global coordinators and bookrunners, according to the statement. Barclays Plc, BNP Paribas, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Societe Generale and UBS Group AG are additional bookrunners.