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Vitol to acquire Vivo Energy’s remaining shares for approximately $2.3bn

Vivo Energy is the company that distributes and markets Shell and Engen branded fuels and lubricants to retail and commercial customers in Africa. Photo: Vivo Energy

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Vivo Energy has announced it has reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer under which Vitol will be acquiring the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Vivo. Vitol will only be acquiring the shares it does not already own in Vivo Energy, via a BidCo, a company indirectly owned by Vitol Investment Partnership II Ltd.

The total cash value of the deal is valued at $2.3bn. In December 2020, Vivo Energy’s key shareholders included Vitol (36.1%), Helios Investment Partners (27.23%) and Petronas Marketing International (3.93%).

The announcement follows several attempts by the Vitol Group to acquire Helios Investment Partners’ shares in Vivo Energy. “Following a series of negotiations, BidCo and Helios agreed a price at which both parties would be willing to transact at a purchase price of US$1.79 per Vivo Share,” Vivo Energy said in a statement.

Both companies were partners and founding shareholders of Vivo Energy, a company born of Shell’s divestment from all its African fuel retailing business in 2011. Vivo eventually completed an initial public offering in May 2018, pursuant to which its shares were admitted to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and admitted to listing on the Official List, with a secondary listing on the Main Board of the JSE.

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bp achieves first oil from subsea tieback project on Block 18 in Angola

bp has announced start of production from its Platina project on Block 18 offshore Angola. The field was brought online ahead of schedule and under the contractor’s group initial budget. The block is operated by bp Angola (Block 18) B.V. (36.34%) along with BP Exploration Beta (9.66%), Sonangol SSI (7.72%), and Sonangol E&P (16.28%). The project will develop an estimated 44m barrels of oil reserves and add 30,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) to Block 18 production once it reaches its peak in 2022. In its 2022 budget, Angola expects Block 18’s output to grow by over 45% next year thanks to Platina. The field will contribute to reversing Angola’s production decline next year and bring back oil GDP to positive after six consecutive years in the red. The development by bp of the offshore Greater Plutonio area within Block 18 in Angola was the British major’s first operated asset in the country. Commissioned in 2007, the project initially developed five fields (Galio, Cromio, Paladio, Plutonio, and Cobalto) in water depths ranging from 1,200 to 1,450 m. The Greater Plutonio floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel has a maximum throughput capacity of 240,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), with a storage capacity of 1.77m barrels. Source: Ministry of Finance, Angola Block 18 forms part of Sonangol’s ongoing partial divestment process. The national oil company is currently divesting up to 8.28% in the license, which received one of the highest number of bids. Interested parties notably include Namcor, Falcon Oil, Somoil and MTI Energy. Details on the development of Block 18 offshore Angola are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

Nordic investors seek to invest into smart city projects across West Africa’s largest commercial city

The Nordic Nigeria Connect just closed in Lagos this week after welcoming delegations of investors from Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. The conference was organized by Nordic countries to present several opportunities across waste and wastewater management, green energy and green transportation solutions across the State of Lagos. More importantly, the week highlighted Lagos’ leadership position in Nigeria when it comes to embracing sustainability. The State is in fact preparing a historic green bond issuance of NGN 25bn ($60m) under the Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme (NGBMDP). In order to modernize Lagos’ infrastructure, manage its waste and provide energy to its booming urban population, the state administration is looking at capital and technology from Europe. “Lagos generates on average 13,000 metric tonnes of waste day,” declared Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the opening of the conference this week. “This challenge represents a significant opportunity for investors seeking to turn waste into wealth such as energy or fertilizers” Negotiations around new deals on energy supply were also high on the agenda, especially as Lagos seeks to become more independent from the national grid. Earlier this year, the state made a case for a new energy policy that would see it develop and grow its own electricity market. Finally, sustainable transportation solutions were advanced as a way to support modern mobility systems across Lagos. These include both the expansion of the state’s Lagos Rail Mass Transit System but also the conversion of its public buses into compressed natural gas (CNG). Deal making and networking was notably supported throughout the week by the Nigerian Norwegian Chamber of Commerce, a not-for-profit bilateral institution established in 2015 to support business and commercial ties between Norway and Nigeria.