Royal Dutch/Shell Group has sold all of its shares in China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec), cashing out a huge profit accumulated since it amassed the shares during Sinopec's October 2000 listing.
Fellow global oil giant BP has sold its 2.1 per cent stake in Sinopec and 2 per cent stake in PetroChina in the past two months for a gain of more than $10 billion.
A Shell spokesman said the sale would not alter the business relationship between Shell and Sinopec, which was 'well beyond IPO [initial public offering] support'.
Shell was selling 1.85 billion shares at $3.125 last night, a 3.84 per cent discount to the $3.25 market close. Goldman Sachs was the sole book-runner. Shell could make a profit of as much as $2.83 billion.
Shell sold about 11.6 million Sinopec shares in the fourth quarter of last year. It bought 1.96 billion shares in Sinopec's initial public offering.
ExxonMobil Corp will be the last of Sinopec's strategic shareholders, holding a 3.65 per cent stake.