Angolan state oil company Sonangol said on Friday it has opened a public tender to sell its stakes in some private firms as part of a government bid to privatize key state assets including parts of Sonangol itself by 2022.
Describing Sonangol as an "octopus," the country's minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum, Diamantino Azevedo, has said it would need to shed stakes in everything from hotels to aviation around the world before a 30% share sale in 2022.
Sonangol is divesting 30% of its capital in oil and gas contractor Petromar, Sonadiets Ltd and Sonadiets Services SA, 51% in Sonatide Marine Ltd and Sonatide Marine Angola Ltd and 40% in Sonamet Industrial SA and Sonacergy Services and Construction Petroleum Ltd, it said in a statement.
The list also includes a 33.3% stake in SBM Shipyard, a joint venture with Dutch-based SBM Offshore NV that provides floating production solutions to the offshore energy industry and 10% in Paenal, whose activities include building and engineering a fabrication yard.
The Angolan state will exit full or part ownership of 81 companies this year via public tender, including six by auction and three in IPOs, with 12 set to be privatized in 2021 and four in 2022, according to state news agency Angop.
Among the last will be Sonangol, along with state-owned diamond company Endiama.
Sonangol said interested parties must submit their applications by May 30, with applications for Sonatide Marine Ltd, Sonatide Marine Angola Ltd, Sonadiets Ltd and Sonadiets Services SA due on May 15.
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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