South African fuels firm Sasol may sell most of a chemical unit it bought for more than a billion euros four years ago in a move which analysts say will leave it to focus more on its gas-to-liquid (GTL) business.

Sasol plans to sell most of its Olefins and Surfactants (O&S) business, which it bought in 2001 as Condea from the German-based RWE Dea, but it would keep the South African operations.
Analysts worried the group may struggle to get buyers willing to pay anywhere near the price it paid for the business, which includes plants in the US and Europe.
“I would question whether Sasol will get the price at which they bought it. It could be a problem,” one analyst said.
“The original reason for buying Condea was to diversify its geographical interests, but it seems now the main strategy is to focus on providing feedstock to its GTL.”
Sasol said it wanted to sell the O&S unit because it was not well-integrated in its plans to use its chemical division to provide feedstock for units such as the GTL, and later the coal-to-liquids unit, Sasol said.
Sasol has said its GTL division will contribute some 30 per cent to earnings in the next 10 years and it plans to spend the bulk of its capital investment in GTL over the same period.