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August 22nd, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : French energy giant Total, on Monday, announced that is was buying Danish Mærsk’s oil and gas business as part of a $7.45 billion (5.7 billion pounds) deal. With the oil market showing signs of recovery, the world’s top oil companies including Total, have returned to the takeover trail over the last year.
As part of the deal AP Møller Mærsk will get $4.95 billion in Total shares, while Total will assume $2.5 billion of Maersk Oil’s debt. The French energy giant has said that the deal would strengthen its operations in the North Sea and help boost earnings and cash flow.
Mærsk, still among the world-leaders in shipping, began investing heavily in the energy sector during the North Sea oil and gas boom in the 1980s. Maersk Oil, which has reserves equivalent to around 1 billion barrels of oil believes the deal fits with a strategy of focusing on its shipping business and other activities that it announced last year.
For Total meanwhile, this is expected to be its biggest oil deal since 2000, when it acquired Elf to generate financial synergies of more than $400 million per year. The deal further helps Total’s strategy of using a strong balance sheet to acquire attractive assets from competitors.
Addressing reporters, Total chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said, “It was time for us to do what a real oil and gas company would do in a period such as this when prices are lower and costs are down. Either launch new projects or acquire new reserves at attractive prices.”
Pointing out that no other oil major was bidding for the assets, he said, “There was a debate within Maersk and they finally accepted given that it was attractive and also the fact that an IPO in a tense oil market would not be a right move.”
Maersk has stated that it plans to return a “material portion of the value of the received Total SA shares” to shareholders in 2018 and 2019 in the form of an extraordinary dividend, share buyback or distribution of shares in Total.
The deal is also part of a major restructuring by Soren Skou, who took charge of Maersk last year, to concentrate on its transport and logistics businesses. The restructuring also involves separation of its energy operations in the face of a drop in income. AP Moller Maersk shares were up 3.7 percent by 0900 GMT while Total shares dipped 0.7 percent.
CH/L – nsnbc 22.08.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/08/22/total-buys-maersk-in-5-7-billion-pounds-deal/
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