Global energy giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc has sold its entire 10% stake in compressed natural gas and piped natural gas retailer Mahanagar Gas Ltd, exiting the venture.
Shell-owned BG Asia Pacific Holding sold the shares on Tuesday for Rs 770 crore ($110 million), as per regulatory disclosures. The shares were picked by various domestic mutual funds and foreign portfolio investors.
This brings the curtains down for Shell’s association one year after it sold over half of its stake for Rs 1,064.8 crore ($152 million).
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 both its promoters GAIL and Shell selling shares.
In April last year, BG Group sold an additional 8.5% stake in Mahanagar Gas as part of its ‘portfolio optimisation’, Shell said at the time.
In total, Shell is estimated to have taken out over Rs 3000 crore via multiple tranches.
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.
