06:34 AM EDT, 10/15/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Phillips 66 (PSX) late Monday said it agreed to sell its 49% stake in Coop Mineraloel to its Swiss joint venture partner for roughly $1.24 billion, as part of the petroleum refiner's ongoing divestiture efforts.

The company's Phillips 66 Ltd. subsidiary will offload its non-operated equity interest in Coop Mineraloel for about $1.17 billion in cash as the sales price, as well as $70 million as assumed dividend for the current year to be paid at or before the deal's completion. Phillips 66 shares were down 1.3% in Tuesday's premarket activity.

Coop Mineraloel operates 324 retail sites and petrol stations across Switzerland.

The transaction, which requires approval from the Swiss Competition Commission, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025. The energy giant aims to use the proceeds from the sale to support its strategic priorities, including returning capital to shareholders.

"This transaction marks significant progress in delivering on our commitment of over $3 billion in divestitures," Phillips 66 Chief Executive Mark Lashier said in a statement. "As we manage our portfolio, we will continue to evaluate monetization of assets that no longer fit our long-term strategy."

In January, Lashier said during a conference that the company was in "active" talks for the potential sale of its noncore assets, as it sought to simplify its business and focus on its go-forward strategy. Lashier's comments came after activist investor Elliott Investment Management in November 2023 disclosed a roughly $1 billion investment in the company and urged it to monetize $3 billion of its noncore assets.

In June, Phillips 66 sold its 25% non-operated common equity interest in Rockies Express Pipeline to a Tallgrass Energy subsidiary for about $1.28 billion. The deal generated pre-tax cash proceeds of $685 million, the company said at the time.

In May, the oil refiner struck a $550 million agreement to buy Pinnacle Midland Parent from private equity firm Energy Spectrum Capital to expand natural gas gathering and processing in the Midland Basin.

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