Baker & McKenzie Advises SOCAR on the Acquisition of Esso Schweiz GmbH
Deal Announcement
18 November 2011
Zurich, Switzerland / London,UK, 18 November 2011 – Baker & McKenzie has advised the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) on the acquisition of all shares in Esso Schweiz GmbH from ExxonMobil Central Europe Holding GmbH, a subsidairy of Exxon Mobil Corporation.
The acquisition of Esso Schweiz GmbH by SOCAR includes a retail station network with more than 170 service stations (63 are company-owned). SOCAR will also acquire the Industrial & Wholesale fuels marketing division, which includes significant volumes of heating oil and bottled gas sales to independent distributors across Switzerland as well as a gas bottling plant in Wangen bei Olten and the fully owned reseller Deville Mazout Sarl in Geneva. Also included in the transaction is the Aviation business at two Swiss airports (Geneva and Zurich) and the relevant Aviation Joint Ventures (JV) shares, as well as the Swiss Supply & Distribution business with its terminals and pipeline JV shares.
Zurich-based Baker & McKenzie M&A partner Martin Frey, who led on the deal, said, "SOCAR is a valued and longstanding client of the Zurich, Baku and London offices. This is SOCAR's first acquisition of this type in Western Europe and we are pleased to be able to assist again on such a significant deal."
The Baker & McKenzie team also included Zurich-based Competition partner Philippe Reich, senior associate Alexander Fischer and associate Simone Bösch.
Founded in 1993, SOCAR is the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, employing over 80,000 staff in Azerbaijan and Eastern Europe. SOCAR was established to manage resources and oil and gas carrier activities by the Republic of Azerbaijan.