International law firm Hogan Lovells and Japanese firm Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu are advising ExxonMobil on the 302 billion yen ($3.94 billion) sale of its Japanese unit to the second-largest refiner in Japan, TonenGeneral Sekiyu. This is the U.S. oil giant’s biggest downstream transaction till date.
While ExxonMobil has engaged Hogan Lovells and Nagashima as its international and local counsels, TonenGeneral has retained Nishimura & Asahi as its external advisor.
The deal was signed on Jan. 29 this year, and is expected to close by this June.
The transaction will enable TonenGeneral, which uses crude from Exxon and distributes Exxon brand oil in Japan, to operate four times its existing number of service stations by bringing within its fold those stations which are currently under ExxonMobil's Japanese unit, according to a Reuters report.
As the global economy slows down, refinery consolidation is becoming a common theme for global oil companies in the developed world.
TonenGeneral’s stake purchase could trigger realignment of Japan's oil refiners, who have been slashing their capacity to weather dwindling demand caused by a sluggish economy and the nation’s keener usage of clean energy.
According to the deal, ExxonMobil will sell a 99 percent stake in its subsidiary ExxonMobil Yugen Kaisha to TonenGeneral as part of its restructuring plan.
The Hogan Lovells team comprises of New York and Abu Dhabi partner Waajid Siddiqui in addition to partners Warren Gorrell (also co-CEO) and Elizabeth Donley from its Washington D.C. office. ALB
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