Sonangol, Angola’s state oil agency, mentioned it’s nonetheless working towards an preliminary public providing of as a lot as 30 % of its shares.
“We’re taking the steps which are wanted, at the least internally, for this course of to start,” Chief Government Officer Sebastiao Martins mentioned at a press convention in Luanda, the capital, on Tuesday. “What we don’t need is for exterior pressures to push us into making errors.”
Initially deliberate for 2022, Sonangol’s IPO would mark a serious step within the oil-producing nation’s efforts to extend transparency and appeal to overseas funding as the federal government seeks to cut back the position of the state within the financial system. The corporate is Angola’s largest and a serious contributor to gross home product.
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Angolan Oil Minister Diamantino Azevedo mentioned the objective stays to eliminate 30 % of Sonangol’s shares regionally and overseas. The sale could be carried out in phases, he mentioned on the identical occasion, with out giving particulars in regards to the timing.
Gasoline Subsidies
One cause the IP0 has stalled is a delay in ending gasoline subsidies, Martins mentioned. Angola spent 588.8 billion kwanzas ($639 million) on the subsidies within the second quarter of 2024, in keeping with the Finance Ministry.
“The large actuality is that the problem of subsidies will proceed to weigh on the privatization strategy of Sonangol,” Martins mentioned. The IPO’s timing will depend upon the federal government, he mentioned.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sonangol mentioned working income fell to $10.5 billion in 2024, from $11.4 billion a yr earlier, on decrease crude costs. Common oil costs in 2024 dropped to $80 per barrel, from $82 per barrel in 2023, the corporate mentioned.
Sonangol plans to retain its stakes in Portuguese lender Banco Comercial Portugues SA and oil firm Galp Energia SGPS SA, Martins mentioned. The Angolan firm is the second-biggest investor in BCP with a 19.5 % stake and owns an oblique stake in Galp via the Amorim Energia enterprise, which controls 36 % of the Portuguese oil agency.
“BCP and Galp have distributed dividends and for us they proceed to be property to maintain,” Martins mentioned. “We see no cause to go away.”
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