SOCAR inks deal to buy oil refiner Italiana Petroli, document shows

By Francesca Landini and Valentina Za

MILAN (Reuters) -Italiana Petroli's founding family has signed an agreement to sell the oil refiner to State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), handing over control of one of Italy's largest petrol station networks, a document showed on Tuesday.

In an internal memo to employees, Italiana Petroli President Ugo Brachetti Peretti said the deal was reached on Monday, confirming what sources had exclusively told Reuters.

Updates on the transaction with SOCAR would come in the next few days, said the memo seen by Reuters. It did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement.

People close to the matter had previously told Reuters that Italy's Brachetti Peretti family was seeking an enterprise value of around 2.5 billion euros ($3 billion) for the company, which holds some 500 million euros in cash.

SOCAR and IP have not officially commented on the deal.

($1 = 0.8458 euros)

(Additional reporting by Elvira Pollina in Milan, Nailia Bagirova in Baku and Ahmad Ghaddar in London. Editing by Mark Potter)