Methanex Corporation is pleased to announce it has completed its sale of an approximate 10% equity share in Egyptian Methanex Methanol Company S.A.E. (EMethanex) to Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) for $110 million. Methanex announced this expected sale on October 22, 2013. This increases APICORP's ownership in the joint venture to approximately 17%. Methanex will remain the operator and majority shareholder of EMethanex with just over 50% ownership. The remaining interest is held by Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company (12%); Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (12%); and Egyptian National Gas Company (9%).
John Floren, President and CEO of Methanex commented, "We are pleased to complete this transaction on schedule. We look forward to continuing to work with APICORP and the Ministry of Petroleum to enhance our operations in Egypt."
Ahmad Bin Hamad Al Nuaimi, APICORP's CEO and GM stated, "Egypt is a key focus in our current investment diversification programme, one of whose many aims is to support the development of the region's capabilities to manufacture hydrocarbon derivatives. Furthermore, as part of our mandate to support Arab energy industry development, we seek to support projects like EMethanex that can deliver tangible economic value and growth. This investment is a good fit for our strategy of deepening support for midstream and downstream sectors."
Eng. Sherif Ismail, Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources stated, "This is a positive transaction for EMethanex and Egypt. APICORP has been a shareholder of EMethanex since the project's inception and a partner in many other successful projects in Egypt in the oil and gas sector. Its increased ownership in EMethanex reflects our fruitful mutual cooperation and reinforces APICORP's confidence in Egypt's economy."
Methanex remains the majority shareholder of EMethanex and there is no change in governance or impact on its operations. EMethanex will continue to be integrated into Methanex's organization. The plant started commercial operations in 2011 and is located in Damietta, Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea. It is among the most energy efficient methanol plants in the world. The plant, which can produce 1.3 million tonnes of methanol per year, supplies both the local and global methanol markets and integrates seamlessly into Methanex's global methanol supply chain.
Methanex is a Vancouver-based, publicly traded company and is the world's largest producer and supplier of methanol to major international markets. Methanex shares are listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada under the trading symbol "MX" and on the NASDAQ Global Market in the United States under the trading symbol "MEOH".
APICORP is a multilateral development bank established in 1975 by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), with a mandate to contribute to the development and transformation of the Arab hydrocarbon and energy industries through equity and debt financing, advisory and research. Since its founding in 1975, APICORP's equity investments and participation in direct and syndicated energy finance transactions have been valued at over US$12 billion.
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