The transaction includes Pampa’s 58.88% stake in Petrolera Entre Lomas (Pelsa), 3.85% stakes in Entre Lomas, Bajada del Palo and Agua Amarga blocks, and 100% stakes in the Medanito and Jagüel de los Machos blocks.
Pelsa is into production and development of hydrocarbons in the Entre Lomas area.
Pampa said that the sale of the assets located in the provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro align with its strategy to focus its investments and human resources to grow its installed capacity of power generation.
The Argentine company also wants to focus on natural gas exploration and production. A particular focus will be on the development and exploitation of its unconventional gas reserves apart from continuing investments for the development of its utility concessions.
Pampa, in a statement, said: “Finally, given this sale transaction in addition to the refining and marketing assets’ announced by the Company on December 7, 2017, we would like to highlight that the resulting cash inflow allows the Company to face the defined strategic investments.
“Therefore, given the current conditions, the Company considers that it is unnecessary to issue a bond convertible into common shares, which terms and conditions were approved by the Company’s Board of Directors on June 26, 2017.”
The completion of the transaction will be subject to certain closing conditions including an approval from the shareholders of Vista, which is headed by Miguel Galuccio, the ex head of state-controlled oil company YPF.
In May 2016, Pampa Energia made an $892m deal to acquire a stake of 67.19% in Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras’ Argentina subsidiary. Under the transaction, Petrobras sold its stake in Petrobras Argentina (PESA) held through Petrobras Participaciones (PPSL).
