(Adds company comment, background)
By Chen Aizhu
BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) - China's state-run Sinopec
Group has brought in two government asset firms as strategic
investors to its overseas upstream unit to shore up profits amid
low oil prices.
China Chengtong Holdings Group Ltd and China Reform Holdings
will hold a combined 70 percent stake in Sinopec International
Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp (SIPC), while Sinopec
Group holds the remaining 30 percent.
"The introduction of strategic investors will help optimise
the firm's capital structure ... readjust the business
configurations, cut the operating cost ... and reduce the
financing cost," SIPC said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
Sinopec will remain the operator of the company, SIPC said,
without giving further details including the amount of the fund
injections.
Both of Sinopec's new partners are investment platforms
under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration
Commission of the State Council (SASAC).
SIPC, Sinopec's vehicle for operating its oil and gas assets
outside China, had spent billions of dollars on large oil and
gas acquisitions between 2009 and 2013, before the recent oil
market crash, including costly investments in deep-sea
concessions in Brazil and oil sands projects in Canada.
Most of SIPC's assets are not under the group's listed
entity Sinopec Corp 0386.HK .
This is not the first time that state energy firms have
brought in state asset managers to boost a company's financial
standing.
Last November, a unit of China Reform Holdings bought a 50
percent interest in PetroChina's 0857.HK Trans-Asia Gas
Pipeline Company Limited, which owns the Central Asia-China Gas
Pipeline, for about 15 billion yuan ($2.32 billion).
SIPC has been undergoing internal reshuffle as well. Company
sources told Reuters last July that it was relocating nearly 40
percent of its staff back to its headquarters, in a major
shakeup aimed at cutting costs and boosting efficiency.
= 6.4770 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Editing by Christian Schmollinger)