US firm to buy multi-billion dollar stake in Spain's Cepsa

US-based investment firm Carlyle Group will buy a stake worth several billion dollars in Spanish oil giant Cepsa from Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, the companies said Monday.

The deal comes six months after Mubadala scrapped plans for a stock market listing for Cepsa, Europe's largest privately owned oil and gas company which is fully owned by the UAE fund.

Carlyle will buy between 30 and 40 percent of Cepsa, the companies said.

The financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal values Cepsa at $12 billion which would make Carlyle's stake worth up to $4.8 billion.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. The Abu Dhabi fund will remain the majority shareholder of Cepsa.

Mubadala, which has held a 100-percent stake in the Spanish company since 2011, announced in September 2018 that it planned to sell a 25-percent share to raise around $2.3 billion.

A planned initial public offering (IPO) was scrapped the following month.

Cepsa is focused on oil and gas refining and distribution in Spain.

It is also present in oil and gas exploration and production both in Latin America and North Africa.

Based in Washington DC, the Carlyle Group is one of the world's largest investment management groups, with $178 billion in assets.