Slim to merge oil & gas units

Carlos Slim plans to merge two of his energy units into one entity, Carso Oil & Gas, according to an advisory posted in a government gazette on Tuesday, as the Mexican telecoms billionaire seeks to benefit from a major sector overhaul.

Shareholders of the subsidiaries voted in February to merge Carso Infraestructura, Construccion y Perforacion and Condumex Perforaciones into Carso Oil & Gas, the advisory said.

Carso Infraestructura, Construccion y Perforacion and Condumex Perforaciones were originally spun off in October from subsidiaries of Slim's industrial conglomerate, Grupo Carso .

A spokesman for Slim was not immediately available to comment.

Mexico last year finalized a major overhaul of its energy sector, ending the state monopoly held by state-owned oil company Pemex and opening the sector up to attract private investment.

In an interview last year, Slim spoke positively of the energy reform, saying the sector required much more investment but did not detail his own plans.

Carso Oil & Gas will have about 1.2 billion pesos ($78.59 million) in capital after the deal. ($1 = 15.2685 pesos).

Source: reuters