Total, Petrofina revise merger expectations

Only a few weeks after announcing its merger with Petrofina, Total has revised upwards its expectations of synergies from the transaction. In addition to the "identified and quantified" synergies that Total said earlier would generate operating profits of 2.1 billion francs/year by 2002, the firm has now identified "complementary" synergies that could generate further operating profits of 1-2 billion francs/year. Total also has indicated that about 1,000 jobs will be cut following the merger.