Shell offloads $152-mn stake in Mahanagar Gas

Global energy giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc has sold more than half its stake in compressed natural gas and piped natural gas retailer Mahanagar Gas Ltd, the Indian company said on Thursday.

Shell-owned BG Asia Pacific Holding sold 1.25 crore shares of the utility on the open market at Rs 851.89 apiece, Mahanagar Gas said in a stock exchange disclosure. The sale yielded BG Asia Rs 1,064.8 crore ($152 million).

BG Asia held a 24% stake in Mahanagar Gas at the end of June, stock-exchange data show. After the sale, it will hold about 11% of Mahanagar Gas.

Mahanagar Gas was set up as a joint venture between state-run GAIL India Ltd and UK-based BG Group. In February 2016, Shell acquired BG Gas.

Mahanagar Gas went public in June 2016 with all its stakeholders diluting their stakes.

In April this year, BG Group sold an additional 8.5% stake in Mahanagar Gas as part of its ‘portfolio optimisation’, Shell said at the time.

GAIL India holds a 32.5% stake in Mahanagar Gas while the Maharashtra government owns 10%. The rest of the stake is held by public shareholders. 

Shares of Mahanagar Gas closed 6.62% down at Rs 840.25 apiece on the BSE on a day the benchmark Sensex gained 0.13% to end at a record high.