News | General | Jun 30th 2015

Consortium comprising Helios and Vitol to acquire an equity stake in Oando’s downstream businesses

A consortium comprising Helios Investment Partners (“Helios”, acting on behalf of funds it advises) and The Vitol Group (“Vitol”) (together, the “Consortium”) today announced it has reached an agreement to acquire 60 per cent of the economic rights and 51 per cent of the voting rights in the West African downstream business of Oando Plc, an integrated oil and gas company headquartered in Nigeria, for a sum of circa US$276 million, subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals and customary purchase price adjustments, including working capital.

The new downstream and retail business will be established as a standalone, independent company, led by a local management team. Its assets will comprise over 400 service stations in Nigeria with supporting infrastructure, including 84,000 tonnes of storage and a newly built inbound logistics jetty; as well as complementary businesses, chiefly LPG filling and distribution, lubricants and an interest in a supply and bulk distribution company in Ghana. The new business will be the second largest downstream fuels company in Nigeria, with a market share of 12 per cent. The Consortium is committed to investing for growth, and working with the experienced and highly skilled local management team to enable the business to capitalise on the 3-5 per cent per annum growth in Nigerian demand for oil products. It is anticipated that the service stations will retain the Oando brand.

Ian Taylor, President and CEO, Vitol said; “Vitol has a long history of working in Nigeria and is proud to have served our customers here over many years. This investment is a further reflection of our confidence in the Nigerian economy, and will be independent of the services we provide to our long standing Nigerian customers. We are looking forward to building this new downstream business, alongside our many other business activities in Nigeria.”

Tope Lawani, co-founder and Managing Partner of Helios Investment Partners, said; “This is a market leading downstream energy business with a strong brand and exciting growth potential. Given our successful partnership with Vitol to create Vivo Energy, a leading downstream business which distributes and markets Shell-branded fuels and lubricants in 16 countries across Africa, we are confident that our expertise and regional presence will support the management team in capitalising on its strong market position and the compelling growth opportunities in Nigeria.”

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For further information:

Helios Investment Partners

Emily Desmier/Fergus Wheeler   (FTI Consulting)

emily.desmier@fticonsulting.com / fergus.wheeler@fticonsulting.com

+44 (0)20 3727 1233/ 1522

The Vitol Group

Andrea Schlaepfer/ Fabian Gmuender

acs@vitol.com / fbg@vitol.com

+44 207 973 4230 / 4478

Nigeria:

Adeshola Komolafe (Media Insight) +234 803 587 6748

 About Helios Investment Partners

Helios Investment Partners is an Africa-focused investment firm managing funds totalling over $3 billion. Helios’ diverse LP base comprises a broad range of the world’s leading investors, including sovereign wealth funds, corporate and public pension funds, endowments and foundations, funds of funds, family offices and development finance institutions across the US, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Established in 2004, led and managed by a predominantly African team and based in London, Lagos and Nairobi, Helios has completed investments in countries across the African continent, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, South Africa and Morocco. Helios’ portfolio companies operate in more than 35 countries in all regions of the continent. Helios bridges international capital and know-how to African talent and enterprise. The firm has a record of successful investment in businesses from start-ups to large corporate carve-outs, building African market leaders in core economic sectors and driving strong returns via portfolio operations.

Further details on Helios Investment Partners can be found at: www.heliosinvestment.com

About The Vitol Group

The Vitol Group was founded in 1966 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since then the company has grown significantly to become a major participant in world commodity markets and is now the world’s largest independent energy trader. Its trading portfolio includes crude oil, oil products, LPG, LNG, natural gas, coal, electricity, agricultural products, metals and carbon emissions. Vitol trades with all the major national oil companies, the integrated oil majors and the independent refiners and traders. Globally, Vitol trades over 5 million barrels of crude oil and oil products per day and revenues in 2014 were $270 billion.

For more information: www.vitol.com

About Oando Plc

Oando Plc is the largest integrated energy solutions group in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has a primary and secondary listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange the Johannesburg Stock Exchange respectively. It also has an upstream listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company has a market capitalization of over $1 Billion and 2013 revenues of $2.9 billion.

Oando Plc has emerged as Nigeria’s leading indigenous energy company with fully integrated operations in the upstream, midstream and downstream divisions of the oil and gas sector. The group through its exploration and production subsidiaries holds interests in 19 licenses for the production, exploration, and development of oil and gas assets located onshore, swamp, and deep offshore. Its energy services business is an indigenous provider of oilfield services to operators in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

Oando Gas & Power is the largest private sector natural gas distributor and developer of Nigeria’s foremost natural gas distribution network, distributing and selling natural gas to industrial and commercial off-takers in Nigeria; in addition to developing and operating power plants. The downstream division consists of Oando Marketing, Oando Supply and Trading and Oando Terminals, which together are the leading indigenous suppliers and marketers of petroleum products in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The company is led by a highly skilled and experienced management team and labor force with a successful track record and wealth of cognate and relevant Oil & Gas experience across the industry.

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