A notable low-emission fuel asset might be on the market. On Friday, Bloomberg reported that "people familiar with the matter" claim that Brookfield Business Partners (BBU 0.52%) -- a separately listed unit of Brookfield Asset Management (BN 1.06%) -- is considering a sale of its Greenergy biofuel provider headquartered in the U.K.
The article's sources say Brookfield Business Partners is working with Citigroup and HSBC Holdings to ascertain interest from potential buyers. This project is at an early stage, and there is no guarantee of a sale, or even an offer. No potential price for Greenergy was mentioned.
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Greenergy is a veteran in its segment, having commenced operations in 1992 as a supplier of low-emission diesel fuel. In this respect, it was quite ahead of its time, planting its stake well before the greening of the transportation sector and other corners of the global economy took significant hold. Brookfield Business Partners gained a majority stake in the company in 2017.
Greenergy sources its fuel around the world, and supplies its wares to numerous clients in the U.K., Ireland, Canada, and Brazil.
According to its most recent annual report, in 2019 the company earned just over 15.9 billion British pounds ($22.5 billion) in revenue, which was 5% down on a year-over-year basis. On the bottom line, the company flipped to a net profit of $61 million, from the 2018 loss of nearly $34.7 million.
It is not clear why Brookfield Business Partners apparently wants to sell Greenergy. Spokespeople for both companies refused to comment on the report.
The fortunes of the two Brookfields diverged on Friday. Brookfield Asset Management shares ticked up by 0.3%, beating the generally flat performance of the S&P 500 index, while Brookfield Business Partners slumped by 0.2%.