Shares of Reliance Industries plunged 4.2% in early trading on Monday, as India suspended the sale of a stake in its oil-to-chemicals unit O2C to Saudi Aramco, and pulled back from a potential stake sale in its most profitable unit.
According to Arab Net, Reliance Company announced, on Friday, that it had decided with Saudi Aramco to re-evaluate the Saudi company's proposed investment in Reliance's oil-to-chemicals business. .
Reliance had announced the sale of a 20% stake in its oil-to-chemicals business for $15 billion in 2019 to Aramco, but the deal was halted after a decline in crude prices and demand. Due to the Corona pandemic.
Over the past two years, the Indian conglomerate owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani has been in the process of selling 20% of its oil business for about $15 billion to Aramco and making it a separate unit, with the introduction of Amendments are also made in an effort to produce renewable energy.
Reliance said that due to the changing nature of Reliance's portfolio of activities, Reliance and Saudi Aramco jointly considered that it would be mutually beneficial to re-evaluate the proposed investment in oil-to-chemicals activities.
The company has been without net debt since June of last year. Analysts at Jefferies said the cancellation of the deal had no impact on Reliance's balance sheet but was a disappointment because it missed the opportunity to reach the $75 billion O2C valuation.
Reliance recently appointed Aramco Chairman Yasser Al-Rumayyan to its board. It was later said that the appointment of Al-Rumayyan, which was initially seen as part of a process linked to the sale of the stake, had nothing to do with the deal.
