Sainsbury’s appoints new CEO
LONDON Sainsburys, Britains second largest supermarket group, yesterday named Martin Scicluna as it next chairman, giving him the job of steering through its 7.3 billion pounds (US$9.69 billion) takeover of rival Asda.
Scicluna, who currently holds the same role at RSA Insurance and property firm Great Portland Estates, will join Sainsburys board as chairman-designate and nonexecutive director on November 1 and succeed David Tyler as non-executive chairman in March 2019 or soon after. Tyler has held the role since 2009.
In April Sainsburys agreed a combination with Walmart owned Asda, the No 3 player, which will overtake Tesco as Britains biggest supermarket chain.
The deal is being looked at by Britains regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The CMAs probe is expected to be lengthy and Sainsburys does not anticipate the deal being concluded until the second half of 2019.
On appointment, Sciclunas fee will be 237,500 pounds annually as chairman designate and 475,000 annually as chairman.
His appointment was announced ahead of Sainsburys annual shareholders meeting yesterday.
Brazils Petrobras to sell African venture
BRASILIA Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrolù eo Brasileiro SA is close to agreeing the sale of its stake in an African venture for around US$1.3 billion, newspaper Valor Economâ ico said on Tuesday.
Petrobras, as the company is known, owns 50 per cent of Petrobras Oil & Gas BV, or Petrobras Africa. Grupo BTG Pactual SA holds a 40 per cent stake in the venture and Helios Investment Partners owns the remaining 10 per cent.
All three shareholders would sell their stakes, valuing the venture at around $2.6 billion, Valor said, citing an unnamed source.
Reuters reported on June 18 that a consortium led by Vitol SA had entered exclusive talks to acquire stakes in Petrobras Africa, emerging as a winner from a number of bidders including rival commodity trader Glencore
Plc.
Representatives for Petrobras and Glencore did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Vitol representative declined to comment.
Petrobras Africa participates in two deepwater oil exploration blocks off the coast of Nigeria that contain the Akpo and Agbami producing fields and are operated by Total SA and Chevron Corp respectively.
Heavily indebted Petrobras unveiled plans to sell that stake in November as part of a divestment program aiming to offload $21 billion in assets by year-end.
Oil major Eni pulls out of race for RTR
MILAN Italian oil major Eni has pulled out of a race to buy Terra Firmas solar power assets in Italy, a company spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday.
The British private equity firm is looking to sell its Rete Rinnovabile, known as RTR, solar portfolio in Italy in a deal expected to fetch more than 1 billion euros (US$1.17 billion).
If successful, the transaction will be Italys largest solar energy sale in a fragmented industry that has come under pressure to consolidate to counter the withdrawal of generous state subsidies.
Eni was working on a joint bid with Qatar Petroleum for 130 plants for a total of 330 MW of solar energy put up for sale by Terra Firma.
The tender is now in the final stages of due diligence and binding offers should be submitted by Thursday, a source told Reuters, with Terra Firma aiming to close the deal by August 5. Italian utility A2A had also been among the potential buyers but pulled out in June.
The remaining contenders are fund Quercus, solar power developer Sonnedix and Italian utility Enel in partnership with infrastructure fund F2i.
The source added that Italian investment firm Tages was considering making an offer without Abu Dhabis Masdar Clean Tech Fund, with which it had initially partnered. The source also said that China General Nuclear was also considering to make an offer.
AT&T to buy cybersecurity firm
NEW YORK AT&T Inc said on Tuesday that it has agreed to buy privately held Silicon Valley-based startup AlienVault, allowing the telecommunications giant to expand its line of cybersecurity products targeted at small and medium businesses.
The companies did not disclose the value of the deal, which they said they expect to close in the third quarter.
AT&T is buying AlienVault as large telecommunications and technology companies including Cisco Systems Inc, International Business Machines Corp and Verizon Communications Inc expand sales of cybersecurity products, among the fastest growing segments of the technology industry.
San Mateo-based AlienVault raised $52 million in 2015, bringing total funding to about $116 million, according to a press release on its website. Investors included Intel Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Trident Capital. REUTERS