Marubeni and Toesca completed its $300 million acquisition of GasValpo.
GasValpo is the second largest natural gas distribution company in Chile and provides natural gas distribution services to approximately 100,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers as of March 2018. GasValpo retains approximately 12% of the market share and mainly services the metropolitan area of Valparaiso Region.
Marubeni has owned and operated natural gas distribution businesses in Australia since 2011 and in Portugal since 2016. This new business endeavor in Chile will be Marubeni’s third such venture into the gas distribution business worldwide. It is the first time that Marubeni will be involved as a majority shareholder in the natural gas distribution sector.
Marubeni will foster further business development of GasValpo in a cooperative relationship with the current management team and staff and will explore the growth and expansion of its natural gas distribution portfolio and its business domain in the Americas, Europe and Australia by utilizing the knowledge & expertise acquired from existing business endeavors.
To finance the acquisition, Marubeni and Toesca secured a $126 million credit facility with Banco Santander-Chile, Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho Bank.
Herbert Smith Freehills advised Marubeni and Toesca. Barros & Errázuriz also advised Marubeni, and Claro & Cia advised Toesca Administradora de Fondos de Inversión.
In the U.S., Linklaters advised Sumitomo Mitsui, Mizuho Bank and Banco Santander-Chile. In Chile, Carey advised the banks.
