Total To Sell Stake In Spain's Cepsa For $5B

PARIS (AP) - Total SA said Wednesday it has agreed to sell its stake in Spanish oil company Cepsa to Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil company for ¿3.7 billion ($5 billion).

Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company will buy Total's 48.83 percent stake in Cepsa for ¿28 per share plus a dividend of ¿0.50 per share.

IPIC is Cepsa's second largest shareholder with a 47.06 percent stake.

Cepsa's shares shot up 24 percent to ¿28.2 on the Madrid stock exchange after the offer was announced. They closed at ¿22.8 Tuesday.

The offer puts the company's value at ¿7.5 billion.

Spanish economic newspaper Cinco Dias said IPIC first bought into Cepsa in the late 1990s and then bought a 36 percent stake from Banco Santander in 2009.

(This version CORRECTS APNewsNow. Updates with details, Cepsa share price, corrects IPIC is second-largest shareholder.)