Itochu sells US shale stake for $1

Japan

TOKYO, June 24, 2015 – Japanese trading house Itochu has sold its billion-dollar stake in US shale company Samson Resources for $1.

Itochu was part of consortium led by US private equity firm KKR that in 2011 bought a majority stake in the Oklahoma company. Itochu’s investment in a 25-percent stake, worth $1.04 billion, marked its largest energy asset purchase at the time.

Samson has faced severe financial difficulties with the decline in oil prices, and in March the company announced a possible default.

Itochu is Japan’s third-largest general trading house after Mitsubishi and Mitsui. The company says its Samson stake has been written down to zero over several years and the sale will not impact its finances.