SRC confirms China firm eyeing Royal Dutch Shell’s 51% stake in it

epa05113059 (FILE) A file photo dated 30 July 2015 showing a company flag flying infront of the head office of Royal Dutch Shell in The Hague, The Netherlands. Royal Dutch Shell plc on 20 January 2016 reported a sharp fall in profits for the last quarter of 2015 as low oil prices hit earnings and the company restructured to reduce costs. Shell said it expected fourth-quarter earnings to be between 1.6 billion and 1.9 billion dollars, down from 4.2 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2014. Full-year earnings, including the impact of lower prices on the company's oil inventory, are expected to total 10.4 billion to 10.7 billion dollars, about 45 per cent lower than the 19 billion dollars reported in 2014. EPA/JERRY LAMPEN

KUALA LUMPUR: Shell Refining Co (Federation of Malaya) Bhd (SRC) has confirmed that its major shareholder Shell Overseas Holdings Ltd (SOHL) is in discussions with Shandong Hengyuan Petrochemical Co Ltd (SHP) to sell its 51% stake in SRC.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the Port Dickson-based company said that while SOHL was considering a sale of its SRC shares, no agreement for the sale had been reached with SHP or any other party.

“The board would like to state that any sale of shares is a matter for SOHL, and confirms that the board has not received any offers for the company’s shares or received any notice on the potential investment mentioned in the newspaper articles,” it said in response to two newspaper reports,

“In addition, the board wishes to further clarify that no decision has been made whether to convert the refinery owned by the company into a storage terminal.”

It said the board would make further announcement if and when it was appropriate or required.

Based on SRC’s latest annual report, Shell Overseas Holdings Ltd is its biggest shareholder (51% stake as at April 30, 2015), followed by the Employees Provident Fund (15.71%) and Amanah Saham Bumiputra scheme (3.68%).

SRC shares gained 5 sen to close at RM5.03, with 926,600 shares being traded.