Marathon Oil Board Approves Refining Business Spinoff

HOUSTON -- Marathon Oil Corp.'s board of directors has approved the spinoff of its refining business, the company reported.

The refiner will continue to operate under the name Marathon Petroleum Corp. and be based out of Findlay, Ohio, as CSNews previously reported. However, it will be completely independent from Marathon Oil, which won't own any shares in it, according to the announcement. It will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol MPC.

Existing Marathon shareholders will receive one share of Marathon Petroleum for every two Marathon Oil shares they own as of June 27. The new shares will be distributed on June 30.

Marathon Petroleum is expected to have nearly 41.43 billion in cash, according to the announcement, and become the fifth-largest refiner in the U.S. Marathon Oil's headquarters will remain in Houston.

Before the announcement, Marathon Oil's shares rose 88 cents to close at $52.76 on Wednesday. Shares rose another 4 cents to reach $52.80 in after-hours trading.