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Helios, Vitol buy out Royal Dutch Shell from Vivo

Tuesday January 03 2017
shell

A Shell petrol station in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE

Helios Investment Partners and Vitol Group will buyout Royal Dutch Shell Plc from Vivo Energy shareholding.

Vivo trades in petroleum products in East Africa.

The two companies said they will acquire Shell’s 20 per cent equity in Vivo for $250 million in the first half of 2017.

Vivo will be owned 100 per cent by Vitol and Helios on completion of the transaction. The firm will continue to trade under the Shell brand name.

The partners will run Vivo in Kenya, Uganda, Mali, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Namibia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal and Western Sahara.

Vivo was created by Helios, Shell and Vitol in 2011 when Royal Dutch Shell divested its majority equity in petroleum trading in 14 African markets.

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Shareholding

Helios and Vitol each own 40 per cent of Vivo, while the remaining 20 per cent belongs to Shell. Vivo had a network of 1,300 outlets in 14 countries in 2011 and has expanded to 1,700 stations in 16 countries. Shareholders of Vivo plan additional investments of $300 million over the next three years.

Helios managing partner Tope Lawani said: “We look forward to continuing to build the Vivo platform across Africa while upholding best-in-class standards and business practices.”

Helios manages about $3 billion in sovereign wealth funds, corporate and public pension funds, endowments and foundations, funds of funds, family offices and development finance institutions across the globe. Vitol is an energy and commodities firm trading over six million barrels of crude oil per day and refined products globally.

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