A Caltex sign is seen at a petrol station in Melbourne April 22, 2010. Caltex Australia Ltd, the country's largest refiner, said on Thursday its short-term refiner margin outlook remains challenging, however it was optimistic about its medium to long-term
A Caltex sign is seen at a petrol station in Melbourne April 22, 2010. Reuters/Mick Tsikas

Caltex Australia said it remains poised to go after its planned acquisitions despite the divestment of Chevron Global Energy Inc’s 50 percent stake in the company. Caltex took the write off as a positive sign for it to go more aggressively on its targeted acquisitions without now having to consider Chevron’s interests and policies.

Julian Segal, Caltex Australia chief executive, said the company is on its way to building a very strong platform even without Chevron behind its back. "We can build and grow the business; I think we are at that stage and I'm confident that we will be able to deliver on that," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Segal.

On Monday, Chevron completed the sale of its 135 million shares in Caltex Australia at $35.00 per share, equivalent to $4.73 billion. A Reuters report said it was the biggest block deal in Asia in 2015. Chevron said it wanted to divest its stake in the company to offset declining oil prices and high costs, factors that it claimed were hurting its margins. From a previously announced $35 billion, Chevron announced its capital spending for 2015 has been slashed to $30 billion.

Among the acquisitions Caltex Australia is reportedly eyeing involve “small and medium-sized ones, those with $200 million to $300 million, as well as larger ones.” Stuart Baker, an analyst with Morgan Stanley, said the planned acquisitions aren’t impossible to happen. The Chevron divestment has literally freed up the company to “do whatever they want to do with respect to growth and capital management."

Segal said the acquisitions will focus on Caltex's four core strengths, which are hydrocarbon processing, retailing, supply chain management, and distribution infrastructure. "In the context of what's happening in the industry as a whole there might be even bigger acquisitions – what I would call more transformational acquisitions, still in the core business," Segal said.

With Chevron’s divestment, Caltex Australia, should it be up for acquisition, could be worth over $1 billion, Macquarie Securities said. Its current balance sheet capacity is between $750 million and $950 million within its BBB+ credit rating.

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