MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil said Thursday it had agreed to sell its retail assets in Ukraine to Austria’s AMIC Energy Management GmbH, according to a press release.
“Lukoil and Austria’s AMIC Energy Management GmbH (AMIC) have reached an agreement in principle to sell 100 percent of Lukoil-Ukraine CFI, which owns around 240 filling stations and 6 petroleum tank farms in Ukraine,” the statement said.
Lukoil noted that the deal had been initiated by the Austrian company, which expressed its interest in buying the assets.
Lukoil’s vice president Vadim Vorobyov said the decision was taken in a bid to “optimize its asset structure and distribution-network management system in Eastern Europe.”
According to the statement, due diligence of the assets is underway, and the parties are preparing to sign a sale-and-purchase contract.
AMIC managing director Guenter Maier commented on the deal, saying it was “a strategically important step to improve AMIC’s investment portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe.”
Lukoil-Ukraine is considered one of the top five Ukrainian fuel market players in terms of the number of filling stations and the volume of retail petroleum product sales, he underscored.
