Phillips 66 to Sell Swiss Fuel Retailer for $1.2 Billion

Phillips 66 has signed an agreement to divest its 49 percent stake in a network of over 300 refueling stations and convenience stores in Switzerland and Liechtenstein to its Swiss co-venturer.

Valued about $1.24 billion, the cash transaction for Coop Mineraloel AG is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to approval by the Swiss Competition Commission. Coop Group, currently the 51 percent owner, owes around $1.17 billion in sales price and approximately $70 million in assumed dividends for 2024.

Coop Mineraloel had CHF 2.7 billion ($3.1 billion) in net revenue last year. The fueling stations included five serving hydrogen as of 2023, according to online information from the joint venture.

Phillips 66 remains a hydrogen investor in Europe through stakes in related projects in Austria, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The transaction, part of the United States refiner’s goal to generate $3 billion from asset sales, follows the company’s announcement that it was closing in on the sale of its retail marketing business in Austria and Germany.

“This transaction marks significant progress in delivering on our commitment of over $3 billion in divestitures,” Mark Lashier, chair and chief executive of Houston, Texas-based Phillips 66, said in a company statement. “As we manage our portfolio, we will continue to evaluate monetization of assets that no longer fit our long-term strategy”.

Phillips 66 had said it is eyeing to give up assets worth $3 billion to support its shareholder return target and other long-term priorities while focusing investment on low-cost but high-return projects. Phillips 66 has so far completed two divestment transactions toward the target.

Last month Voyager Midstream Holdings announced it had purchased natural gas gathering and processing assets in Louisiana and Texas from Phillips 66 for an undisclosed price. The agreement included about 550 miles of gas pipelines and associated compression, 400 million cubic feet per day of active cryogenic gas processing capacity, 12,000 barrels a day of liquids fractionation capacity and the Carthage Hub integrated gas trading and delivery hub.

As of the second quarter of 2024, Phillips 66 reached $1.1 billion toward that $3 billion asset monetization target, according to the company’s quarterly financial report.

In the period, it sold a 25 percent non-operating stake in Rockies Express Pipeline LLC to Tallgrass Energy LP. The transaction, involving a 1,714-mile pipeline carrying as much as over five billion cubic feet a day of natural gas from Appalachia to the northeastern U.S., had an enterprise value of $1.275 billion including cash of nearly $700 million, according to Phillips 66’s announcement of the deal last June.

To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com