Shareholders of Nigeria’s Nipco PLC have authorized the company’s board of directors to stand as a guarantor for the acquisition of 60% majority equity stake in Mobil Oil Nigeria by Nipco Investments Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nipco Plc, The Nation reported.

This comes as Nipco Plc had agreed to pay $301m to Mobil Oil Nigeria for over 2m ordinary shares, subject to price adjustments for dividends and other factors, according to All Africa. At an extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) held in Abuja, shareholders of Nipco lauded the acquisition that would make the group combined retail outlets to grow to about 500 stations.

Earlier, Nipco’s Managing Director, Venkataraman Venkatapathy, said that the acquisition was as a result of ExxonMobil selecting Nipco as the preferred bidder after a rigorous bidding process. Venkatapathy added that the acquisition is an important synergy and part of a strategic to support Nipco continuous growth and expansion in the retail sector of the oil and gas industry. He said the company would continue to maintain the Mobil brand at its retail outlets as well as continue to blend and sell Mobil brand of lubricants under blending license from ExxonMobil.