The Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD) share price is scaling upwards on Friday morning. This follows an announcement regarding the fuel supplier's sale of its Gull business in New Zealand.
In early morning trade, shares in the 122-year-old petroleum company are swapping hands for $32.37 apiece, up 1.8%. This puts the company's share price within arm's reach of its 52-week high of $32.54.
Here's a look at the latest development in Ampol's dispensing of Gull.
One step closer to making a switch
Shareholders are bidding up the Ampol share price after being informed that the New Zealand Commerce Commission has approved Ampol's sale of Gull to Allegro Funds Pty Ltd. This milestone moment means the sale of Ampol's existing New Zealand network with Gull will progress to the remaining approvals.
From here, the disposal of Gull from Ampol's arsenal will await approval by the Overseas Investment Office. In addition, the transaction remains conditional on the Aussie fuel seller acquiring the much larger New Zealand fuel supplier, Z Energy.
As previously stated, the sale of Gull will add around NZ$509 million of cash to the pockets of Ampol. At the same time, the company aims to dish out NZ$2 billion to get ahold of Z Energy.
If successful, Ampol would be swapping its 8% market share of fuel sales in New Zealand through Gull for a 40% market share with Z Energy.
How has the Ampol share price been performing?
The Ampol share price outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) amid record fuel prices. Part of the outlandish fuel prices seen in recent months was the byproduct of destabilisation between Russia and Ukraine — potentially impeding oil exports from the area.
In quantitative terms, the Ampol share price has returned nearly 8% since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the benchmark has failed to produce a gain, slipping 1.6% over the same period.
