Chevron Sets Acquisition Vote

Chevron Corp. has scheduled a special meeting of shareholders on Oct. 9 to vote on its takeover of Texaco Inc., a deal that would create ChevronTexaco Corp., the world's fifth largest oil company.

Chevron said it hopes to complete the takeover that day pending the shareholders vote and approval from federal and state anti-trust regulators, Reuters reported.

Chevron also outlined the sales it expects to make to win approval from anti-trust regulators, including divesting Texaco's investments in Equilon and Motiva, its U.S. refining and marketing joint-venture with Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Saudi Aramco.

Since announcing the merger last October, the companies have said that they anticipated certain divestitures, including Texaco's U.S. downstream interests, would be required. Both companies have also expressed a desire to complete the merger within a 12-month timeframe, the report said.

White Plains, N.Y.-based Texaco's stakes in refining and marketing joint ventures have long been seen as the sticking point with regulators, concerned about the concentration of the so-called downstream oil business in the United States. Texaco has engaged in extensive negotiations with its joint venture partners about divesting its share in the businesses.

Motiva has four refineries in the Eastern and Gulf Coast regions of the U.S. and supplies gasoline and other fuels to 13,000 Shell and Texaco retail and wholesale outlets. Shell owns 30 percent of Motiva while Texaco and Saudi Aramco each control 35 percent.

Equilon has four refineries on the U.S. West Coast and supplies fuel to 9,000 Shell and Texaco outlets. Shell owns 56 percent of the company and Texaco 44 percent.
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