Shell aims to sell Italian retail network by October

Shell aims to sell its Italian retail network by October, following the splitting of its Italian business into two divisions in June in preparation for the divestment, according to a plan outlined to labor unions by company management.
Shell plans to fold its non-service station lubricants business, its Basilicata extraction activities, and its gas unit into a branded company, while its Italian retail fuel business, its marine business, and its aviation fuels and general storage activities will be placed in a separate company in June, the source said.
The divestitures will involve some 180 employees working in the businesses being sold, union sources said. More information will become available in the coming months.
Shell’s move comes after it announced plans in 2009 to exit from 15% of its worldwide refining capacity and 35% of its retail markets due to falling global refining margins and waning demand for fuel in Europe. Since then, it sold its refining and marketing businesses in Finland and Sweden in 2010, as well as the majority of its shareholding in most of its downstream businesses in Africa in 2011.
Shell owns some 870 service stations, mainly in Northern Italy, which have a market share of less than 5%, making Shell Italy’s seventh largest fuel retailer, according to recent estimates by Datamonitor.
Sardinia-based Saras and Italy’s Erg have been among those who have so far expressed an interest in buying the business.
(May 27, 2013)