The remaining shareholders of Spirit Energy Ltd. are planning to join majority owner Centrica PLC in selling their shares in the company, Reuters reported Aug. 29, citing four financial sources.
In late July, Centrica announced plans to sell its stake in its oil and gas exploration and production arm, Spirit Energy, as well as its interest in the U.K.'s nuclear power plants. The company also said that CEO Iain Conn will step down from the position and retire from the board before its 2020 annual general meeting following an announcement of weak first half results.
Centrica, under Conn, has been moving away from upstream activities and large-scale power generation to providing consumer energy services.
One of the sources told Reuters that Centrica will run the sale on behalf of other shareholders, including Bayerngas GmbH and Stadtwerke München GmbH, as these companies move away from oil and gas exploration and production.
A second source said HitecVision AS and INEOS AG could be approached as potential buyers of Spirit's North Sea assets.
