Spanish builder selling 2.7-bn euro stake in Repsol: FT

Indebted Spanish builder Sacyr Vallehermoso is trying to unload a 10-percent stake in oil giant Repsol, worth about 2.7 billion euros ($3.5 billion), the Financial Times said on Monday.

Sacyr had contacted China’s Sinopec and an unnamed Latin American oil firm as possible buyers of the shares, which represent half of its 20.01-percent stake in Repsol, the paper said.

Repsol managers were cooperating in the deal and would be prepared to offer a seat on the board to Sinopec, which last year bought a 40-percent share of Repsol’s Brazilian branch, it said.

Sacyr is racing to refinance part of a 2.5-billion-euro loan, so as to avoid possible collapse, the Financial Times said, citing unnamed people familiar with the negotiations.

The Spanish builder borrowed heavily at the height of the property boom, which collapsed in 2008, and it posted a net debt of 11.4 billion euros at the end of September.

Shares in Sacyr eased 0.65 percent to 4.001 euros and Repsol slipped 0.41 percent to 21.975 euros in early trade Monday.