OMV’s EUR 2 bn disposal program well on the way – second divestment package announced
February 5, 2021
In March 2020, OMV, the international, integrated oil and gas and chemical company headquartered in Vienna, announced a disposal program of EUR 2 bn until the end of 2021. The company made great progress in 2020 and was able to sign agreements for the three assets of the first divestment package: the sale of the 51% stake in the gas logistics subsidiary Gas Connect Austria, the sale of the OMV filling station business in Germany and the sale of the Upstream business in Kazakhstan. The closing of all three divestments is expected in 2021 – subject to the required regulatory approvals. In total, the first package will lead to a substantial deleveraging effect of more than EUR 1 bn.
Today (February 4, 2021), OMV has announced a second package with two divestments. The divestment of OMV’s business in Slovenia, where OMV currently operates 120 filling stations under the OMV, Eurotruck, Avanti and Diskont brands. With its limited integration within the Downstream oil value chain, the divestment of this business represents a further step in OMV’s portfolio optimization.
Second, OMV’s subsidiary Borealis has decided to start a process of divesting its nitrogen business unit including fertilizer, technical nitrogen and melamine products. The company’s share in fertilizer production sites in The Netherlands and Belgium (“Rosier”) is not presently being considered within the potential sales process. Borealis will continue to focus on its core activities of providing innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins and base chemicals, thus extending OMV’s value chain towards higher value chemical products and the transformation towards a circular economy.
“We are well on our way to deliver on our decisive disposal program, and with this second divestment package OMV is taking another big step towards fulfilling our promise to deleverage quickly”, said Rainer Seele, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of OMV.
The company will announce a third package of divestments later this year. With the disposal program, OMV intends to reduce its gearing ratio excluding leases to around 30% by the end of 2021.
OMV produces and markets oil and gas, as well as chemical solutions in a responsible way and develops innovative solutions for a circular economy. With Group sales revenues of EUR 17 bn and a workforce of around 26,000 employees in 2020 (incl. Borealis), OMV is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. In Upstream, OMV has a strong base in Central and Eastern Europe as well as a balanced international portfolio, with Middle East & Africa, the North Sea, Russia and Asia-Pacific as further core regions. Daily average production was 463,000 boe/d in 2020. In Downstream, OMV operates three refineries in Europe and owns a 15% share in ADNOC Refining and ADNOC Global Trading, with a total annual processing capacity of 24.9 mn tons. Furthermore, OMV operates about 2,100 filling stations in ten European countries and runs gas storage facilities in Austria and Germany. In 2020, total natural gas sales volumes amounted to around 164 TWh. In the chemicals sector, OMV, through its subsidiary Borealis, is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions and a European market leader in base chemicals, fertilizers and the mechanical recycling of plastics. Borealis operates in over 120 countries. In 2020, Borealis generated EUR 6.8 billion in sales revenue. The company supplies services and products to customers around the globe through Borealis and two important joint ventures: Borouge (with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, or ADNOC, based in UAE); and Baystar™ (with Total, based in the US). Sustainability is an integral part of OMV’s corporate strategy. OMV supports the transition to a lower-carbon economy and has set measurable targets for reducing carbon intensity.
Source: OMV