TonenGeneral to Buy Mitsui Oil for $242 Million

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Oil refiner TonenGeneral Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo, Japan) (TSE:5012) will buy an 89.9% stake in gasoline retailer Mitsui Oil Company Limited (Tokyo, Japan) for $242 million under a recently announced agreement.

TonenGeneral will purchase the shares from Mitsui & Company Limited (Tokyo, Japan) (TSE: 8031). Mitsui & Company and Exxon Mobil Corporation (Irving, Texas) (NYSE: XOM), which have partial ownership of TonenGeneral, agreed to the deal.

Mitsui Oil has 270 gas stations nationwide and jointly owns Kyokuto Petroleum Industries Limited (Ichihara, Japan), a refining venture with TonenGeneral. The shares are valued at 24.9 billion yen ($242 million).

The deal will be made final on February 4, 2014 after it has been approved by the Japan Fair Trade Commission. Kyokuto Petroleum and Mitsui Oil will become subsidiaries of TonenGeneral.

Japanese refiners, who have been hurt by declining demand for oil products, are under pressure to restructure their energy supply and be more competitive with their Asian counterparts. The refiners plan to reduce refining capacities by decommissioning crude units or improving the capacity of cracking units.

Kyokuto Petroleum and Cosmo Oil Company Limited (TSE:5007) (Tokyo, Japan) signed a memorandum in September to jointly operate their Chiba refineries, which are next to each other at the Keiyo Costal Industrial Complex. The move occurred after Exxon Mobil reduced its voting rights in TonenGeneral from 50.5% to 22%.

In addition, Mitsui has agreed to acquire 6.37% shares of TonenGeneral from Exxon Mobil Bay Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

Kyokuto Petroleum produces 175,000 barrels per day at the Chiba refinery. TonenGeneral owns three refineries in Kawasaki, Saki and Wakayama, with a combined capacity of 661,000 barrels per day.

"Mitsui will seek to deepen its cooperative relationship with TonenGeneral through the continued transaction of crude oil and petroleum products," Mitsui said in a statement.

For related information see April 1, 2013 -- Japan's Major Refiners Make Way for Refining Capacity Reduction Plan

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