Castrol India shares in focus after Stonepeak makes open offer to acquire 26% stake

Shares of Castrol India Ltd. are in focus on Friday, December 26, after Motion JVCo, Stonepeak, and CPP Investment Board launched an open offer to acquire 26% stake in the company. 

The consortium will be looking to buy 25.71 crore shares of Castrol India, at a price of ₹194 apiece, which is a 2% premium to the stock's closing price on Wednesday.

This comes after British Petroleum (BP),on Wednesday, December 24, agreed to sell 65% shareholding in the parent company Castrol to Stonepeak at an enterprise value of $10 billion.

After the deal, Stonepeak will have a 65% stake in Castrol, while BP's stake will fall to 35%. After a two-year lock-in period, BP will have the option to sell its remaining 35% stake as well.

This transaction also includes minority interests, including those in India, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and other jurisdictions.

Following this announcement, Castrol India's shares had surged over 8% on Wednesday. However, the stock later pared its gains and ended 1.8% up at ₹189.3 apiece.

Historical data suggests that Stonepeak has delisted earlier acquisitions that it has made, including Air Transport Services Group in 2025, Akumin Inc in 2024 and Teekay LNG Partners in 2022.

BP on Wednesday said it has reached an agreement to offload 65% shareholding in Castrol, generating total net proceeds of around $6 billion, including accelerated

dividend payments. The proceeds would be entirely used to reduce net debt towards its target range of $14 billion - $18 billion by 2027-end. At the end of the third quarter in 2025, Castrol's net debt stood at $26.1 billion.

At the end of the September quarter, Castrol Plc. had a 51% stake in the Indian entity. LIC has a 10% stake in Castrol India, followed by the Singapore government's 1.33% stake. Over 5 lakh small retail shareholders, or those with authorised share capital of up to ₹2 lakh, had a 16.6% stake in Castrol India.

Castrol India shares have declined 7.1% this year, so far.

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