Castrol India shares are in focus on February 27 as oil major BP said it is looking at strategic review of its global lubricants business.
"BP is carrying out a strategic review of its Castrol business with the intention of accelerating Castrol’s next phase of value delivery," said the oil major on February 26.
"Castrol is a leading and trusted global lubricants brand, marketing premium products in more than 150 countries and serving customers and consumers in the automotive, marine, industrial and energy sectors. Castrol has significant growth ambitions, including growing its core mobility businesses, expanding participation in industrial lubricants, enhancing its mobility services and diversifying into data centre fluids," said BP.
BP said it may look for stake sale in Castrol to improve its own balance sheet.
"The strategic review of Castrol will consider all options with a focus on value creation. Proceeds from any potential transaction that may arise as a result of the review will be allocated to strengthening bp’s balance sheet," said BP.
At 10:50 am on February 27, Castrol India shares on BSE were trading 1.35% lower at Rs 220.26 apiece.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that BP Plc, in which activist investor Elliott Investment Management has built up a nearly 5 per cent stake, is considering a potential sale of its lubricants business.
The unit is also among the assets that Elliott has identified for potential disposals, sources told Bloomberg.
The Castrol brand serves customers in more than 150 countries in the automotive, marine, industrial, aerospace and energy production sectors, according to BP’s website. Recently, the brand has expanded into developing liquid cooling technology to help with the issue of overheating at data centers. Castrol is also a widely recognized brand in global sport through marketing partnerships with the NBA, WNBA and motorsports.
Elliott, which has built up a stake worth about £3.7 billion ($4.7 billion) in BP, is demanding that it make drastic cost cuts and divestments to strengthen its future as a standalone company.
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