Helios, Vitol to buy Shell’s fuel stations in Africa

Africa’s largest and fastest emerging private equity firm Vitol and Helios Investment Partners, the world’s largest independent energy trader based in Rotterdam, is negotiating with Royal Dutch Shell to clinch the largest private equity deal in sub-Saharan Africa. This deal, which insiders say is worth close to US$2.4 billion will create one of the continent’s largest distributors of fuels and lubricants. If it closes successfully, analysts say it will mark the beginning of a new era in which emerging financiers and entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa find themselves winning the confidence of the establishment in global financial markets. Vitol and Helios will become majority shareholders, with Shell as a minority shareholder. This deal will affect retail outlets in 19 countries, namely Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt (excluding lubricants), Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Cape Verde, Botswana (excluding LPG), Namibia, Madagascar, Mauritius and La Reunion. (November 3, 2010)