Valvoline to sell Global Products business to Aramco for $2.65 billion in cash

Valvoline Inc. , a provider of automotive oil, additives, and lubricant, said Monday it has reached an agreement with Aramco to sell its global products business for $2.65 billion in cash. Once the deal closes, Lexington, Ky.-based Valvoline will focus on its retail services business, making it a pure-play automotive service provider with a target of 20%+ in per-share earnings growth. " "Retail Services will benefit from a strong balance sheet and a clear strategy for value creation, including extending our world-class preventive auto maintenance service model to EV owners, OEMs and fleets as the car parc evolves," CEO Sam Mitchell said in a statement. The deal is expected to close in late 2022 or early 2023. The company will use the proceeds for shareholder returns, to pay down debt and invest in growth. The company expects retail services sales of about $1.5 billion in fiscal 2022, up more than 20% from fiscal 2021. It expects third-quarter EPS of 55 cents and revenue of $957 million. The FactSet consensus is for EPS of 57 cents and revenue of $938 million. The company will report earnings on Wednesday. Shares rose 2.4% premarket on the news, but are down 13.6% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has fallen 13%.

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