Galp threatened by sacking of Isabel dos Santos from Sonangol

The sacking of Isabel dos Santos from the Angolan state oil company, Sonangol, could have an impact on Portugal’s Galp Energia, according to analysts.

Galp Energia's ‘speculative angle’ may be reinforced due to changes in Sonangol's leadership, according to the investment team at BPI.

"The stability of the Amorim Energia holding company has been a source of uncertainty for some time," and the change in Sonangol may "raise speculation again that could spice up Galp's merger and acquisitions angle," BPI analysts said today.

The President of Angola, João Lourenço, sacked Isabel dos Santos from Sonangol, replacing her with Carlos Saturnino, until now the Secretary of State for Petroleum.

 In Portugal, Sonagol holds several financial positions, with Galp being one of the most important.

The Angolan company holds, through Esperanza Holding BV, 45% of Amorim Energia, in which Américo Amorim's heirs control 55% of the capital. In turn, Amorim Energia owns 33.34% of Galp Energia.

In addition to the changes at Sonangol, BPI analysts point out that Portugal’s state holding company, Parpública holds 7.5% of Galp's capital which it must sell “sooner or later."

The state increased its stake in Galp, remaining as the second largest shareholder, when a bond issue reached maturity with most investors opting for cash rather than the Galp shares on offer.

Parpublica had to shell out €885 million in order to comply with the long-term conditions for the State's sale of Galp.

According to BPI, Parpública can not remain a shareholder of Galp Energia, but also it does not have a deadline before which it must offload it holding.

The dismissal of Isabel dos Santos does not affect her Portuguese partnership that controls NOS telecom.

There is no reason to change things, said Luis Reis, chief corporate officer at Sonae which jointly owns the Zopt holding company, which has 52.15% stake in NOS.

“It’s a partnership that has been exemplary from the point of view of strategic alignment between partners and we see no reasons for this to change,” Reis commented to Reuters.

Sonae and Isabel dos Santo broke a four-year partnership for food retail in Angola in 2015, which saw Sonae being forced to sell its share in the joint venture to Isabel dos Santos.

You must be a registered user to make comments.
Please register here to post your comments.