SHELL SELLS DOWN WOODSIDE STAKEBy AAP | 08.11.2010 06:25 PMRoyal...

SHELL SELLS DOWN WOODSIDE STAKE



By AAP | 08.11.2010 06:25 PM

Royal Dutch Shell is to sell almost one-third of its 34 per cent stake in Woodside Petroleum Ltd to focus instead on its own projects.
Shell's Australian subsidiary, Shell Energy Holdings Australia Ltd, has agreed to sell 78.34 million Woodside shares, 10 per cent of Woodside's total issued capital, to other investors.
The sale will reduce Shell's stake in Woodside 24.3 per cent.
The Woodside shares are to be sold at $42.23 per share, netting Shell over $33 billion.
Woodside shares closed at $45.86 on Monday.
"With Shell's recent portfolio progress in Australia, our worldwide push to simplify the company and to improve our capital efficiency, we will increasingly focus our investment in Australia through direct interests in assets and joint ventures, rather than indirect stakes," Shell chief executive Peter Voser said in a statement.
Shell has committed to holding on to its remaining Woodside stake for at least one year.