Sinopec completes China's biggest foreign takeover

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

BEIJING — Sinopec Group said Tuesday it has completed its $7.5 billion acquisition of Addax Petroleum, obtaining new reserves in Africa and the Middle East in China's biggest foreign corporate takeover to date.

State-owned Sinopec Group is the parent of Sinopec Corp., also known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia's biggest refiner by volume. It wants to expand its production capacity to profit from rising crude prices that have cost it billions of dollars in recent years due to government caps on retail fuel prices.

Addax is China's biggest foreign corporate takeover but the deal is half the size of last year's $14.3 billion acquisition by Aluminum Corp. of China, with Alcoa Corp., of a 12 percent stake in global miner Rio Tinto PLC, according to financial information firm Dealogic.

Chinese oil, mining and other resource companies, flush with cash from their country's economic boom, are investing in foreign oilfields, mines and other assets to profit from rising commodities demand.

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