Gujarat Gas drops 10% as BG Group sells controlling stake

NEW DELHI: Gujarat Gas Ltd dropped 10 per cent in trade on Thursday after the BG Group sold their controlling stake in Gujarat Gas Co Ltd to state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corp ( GSPC) for Rs 2,463.8 crore.

At 10:20 am, Gujarat Gas was trading 9.7 per cent lower at Rs 303.95. The stock has hit a low of Rs 297.50 and a high of Rs 326 today.

“For BG, the exit is part of its global realignment of its portfolio. It requires $9 billion for exploration and production in Brazil and Australia. It recently sold stakes in offshore blocks in the Mahanadi and KG Basins,” ET reported.

The GSPC Group is the country’s largest LNG trader and has also emerged as the largest natural gas distributor with volume of 7-8 mmscmd. The GSPC Group is now much larger than Indraprastha Gas and Mumbai-based Mahanagar Gas.

The acquisition makes GSPC the country’s largest distributor of natural gas with total volume of close to 8 million cubic metres a day.

It will acquire BG’s 65.12 per cent stake at 295 per equity share of the country’s largest city gas distribution (CGD) player in the private sector with consumer base of 3.5 lakh in south Gujarat.