HONG KONG: China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, the world’s biggest oil refiner, is reviving a long-mooted initial public offering of its retail business that could raise as much as $10 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The mainland’s State-owned oil company, known as Sinopec, has asked banks to submit proposals by this month for roles to manage a potential Hong Kong listing next year, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Sinopec shares jumped 4.3 per cent to HK$5.86 (75 cents) at 10:55 am on Wednesday in Hong Kong, headed for the biggest gain since April.
Sinopec’s retail operations include more than 30,500 fuel stations under its own brand as well as a network of convenience stores. It proposed a listing of the retail business in 2014, when it sold a 29.99 per cent stake for 107 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) to a group of investors including China Life Insurance Co and billionaire Guo Guangchang’s Fosun International Ltd. “Low crude prices and a shaky stock market in Hong Kong this year were the reasons Sinopec hasn’t tried aggressively to list,” Anna Yu, a Hong Kong-based analyst at China Merchants Securities (HK) Co, said on Wednesday. “It looks more reasonable now for them to try next year if oil prices rise and the appetite for IPOs recovers as many expect.”
