Petronas Lubricants CEO on IPO considerations

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Petronas Lubricants International CEO Giuseppe D’Arrigo at Makuhari Messe on January 12, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan.

D’Arrigo said the company currently has “very high cash flow” and is “meeting our financial targets” so extra funds are not required, but he would not discount any sort of funding initiative in future.

“In the short term, for the next couple of years, [an IPO] is not something we are looking at very seriously,” he said, adding that, in future, “achieving that vision that we said, becoming the top-five companies, we require some special funds.”

The CEO also told CNBC that the lubricant industry is turning to technology for help in developing an effective and sustainable product. “Technology is our differentiator,” he said, adding that “we are investing everything into it,” particularly on synthetic lubricant, which he explained is seen as higher end and more profitable.

D’Arrigo pointed to Australia, telling CNBC: “Australia is a market that’s contracting by 5 percent every year when it comes to lubricants. But the synthetic part of it will double over the next five years, and that’s where we are playing.”