[size=14pt]Forte Oil sells 17% Equity to Mercuria Energy Group, receives regulatory approvals.[/size]

Thursday, September 24, 2015 11.53 PM / Proshare News & Investigations


The deal is done.
 

Mercurial, the world’s third largest independent energy traders and asset operators has been successful in its bid to acquire a 17 per cent stake in Forte Oil Plc, a Nigerian indigenous petroleum products marketer and power generating company.
 

With this deal, Mercuria enhances its goal of becoming a more vertically integrated business in the Oil trading market and offers Forte Oil access to a global market where its goal is to become a key African player in the energy and power sector.
 

Both the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have granted approvals to this landmark transaction which should net Nigerian billionaire, Femi Otedola  about $200 million estimated inflow (SP –N239.99; 52 Wk Range 141.67 - 252.00 @Sept 23, 2015). The stocks sold consist of ordinary shares held by Femi Otedola (direct) and Zenon Oil (indirect)



This is a remarkable feat for a company with a market CAP of about N8 billion three (3) years ago now valued at N312.6 billion as at September 23, 2015.

We await a formal notification from the NSE after which specifics of the transaction will be explored.

About Mercuria Energy Group Ltd
Mercuria is a Swiss privately held international commodity trading company active over a wide spectrum of global energy markets including crude oil and refined petroleum products, natural gas (including LNG), power, coal, biodiesel, carbon emissions, base metals and agricultural products. In 2014, the company bought the commodities trading arm of J.P. Morgan in a reported US$800 million deal. They are the third largest independent energy traders and asset operators and are based out of Geneva, Switzerland, with 50 offices worldwide.


Mercuria moves about 1.5m barrels of crude and oil products daily, and has upstream and downstream assets ranging from oil reserves in Argentina, Canada and the US, to oil and products terminals in Europe and China, as well as substantial investment in the coal mining industry and bio fuels plants in Germany and the Netherlands. Their primary competitors are Swiss commodity houses Glencore, Trafigura and Vitol, US based trader Cargill and Hong Kong/Singapore based Noble Group.
 

Mercuria was founded in 2004 by Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi, then executives at Phibro—the commodities trader sold by Citigroup to Occidental Petroleum in 2009—and previously at Goldman Sachs. Until 2007, Mercuria was called the J&S Group and focused mostly on oil trading. As they have expanded, they have hired away traders and investment professionals from across Europe, particularly Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Louis Dreyfus Group and Electrabel in London. Mercuria's 2013 revenue was US$ 112 billion.
 

It has subsidiaries worldwide, including Navitas Energy in Canada and Vesta Terminal Services in Europe, which operates port logistics, storage and processing facilities in the Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium, and Germany. Mercuria, former owner of Vesta Terminal, entered into a joint venture with Sinopec by selling 50% of the terminals in 2013.
 

In November 2010, Mercuria Energy bought MGM International Group from Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. and MGM International LLC. The Miami, Florida-based MGM International Group is developer of international projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and trades in global carbon markets. The company recently arranged debt financing of 2.5 billion to fund expansion through asset purchases in Europe and North America.

 

http://www.proshareng.com/news/All/Forte-Oil-sell-Proshare/28679

seeee Money....i wish I'm DJ CUPPY

Father bless my career,
open the flood gate of heaven on me and my fellow Nairalanders,

Almost a month ago.

[size=14pt]Forte Oil shares spike on Mercuria stake chatter.[/size]

By PATRICK ATUANYA
Sep 3rd, 2015

Forte Oil shares spike on Mercuria stake chatter.

 

Shares of Nigerian petroleum products marketer and power generating company, Forte Oil, are surging on chatter about a possible stake purchase by Mercuria Energy Group Limited.

BusinessDay sources say Mercuria, one of the largest integrated energy and commodity trading companies in the world, is in advanced talks to buy a 17 percent stake, worth over $200 million in Forte Oil.

Forte Oil stock price, which has bucked by the recent selloff in Nigerian equities, is up 25 percent in the past month, with its market capitalisation rising by N76 billion to N323.6 billion.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) is down -0.07 percent over the same period to September 1.

“Forte Oil has a small float so any positive chatter usually makes the stock fly,” Abiodun Keripe, head of research at Elixir Investment Partners Limited, said.

Commodity traders including, Mercuria, Vitol and Trafigura Beheer BV are targeting fuel storage and retail businesses in Africa, Europe and Australia to complement their crude and oil product-trading operations.

Vitol Group and private-equity firm Helios Investment Partners in June 2015, agreed to buy a majority stake in Oando plc’s service station, fuel storage and supply business in West Africa for $276 million.

The Forte Oil’s transaction would further Mercuria’s goal of becoming a more vertically integrated business model amid increasing competition.

Marco Dunand, Mercuria CEO, said in a recent interview that the company was seeking a private-equity partner to invest as much as $1 billion in oil and gas production.

For Forte Oil, the deal if consummated, will see it diversify away from marketing refined petroleum products and towards being a purer energy and power player.

Forte Oil said in July 2015 it had signed an $83 million contract with Siemens to upgrade its 414 megawatt gas-fired power plant and that the work would be completed next year.

The company, which also has interests in fuel retailing was one of several firms to buy government power assets two years ago, sold as part of a privatisation meant to end decades of blackouts in Africa’s biggest economy.

Forte Oil currently has c.450 retail distribution outlets for petroleum products and controls approximately 8 percent market share in the downstream oil and gas sector in Nigeria and eight retail outlets in Ghana.

The firm reported in July its first-half pre-tax profit dropped 22.3 percent to N3.25 billion ($16.3m). Revenue fell 23.16 percent to N61.17 billion during the six-month period to June 30.

Mercuria and other commodity traders are enjoying the best trading conditions in more than four years amid increased volatility and as a slump in crude cuts financing costs. Companies are generating higher returns by storing cheap oil today to sell it at higher prices later, a market structure known as contango.

Mercuria was founded 11 years ago by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. traders Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi.

http://businessdayonline.com/2015/09/forte-oil-shares-spike-on-mercuria-stake-chatter/

Family portrait painting session of Femi Otedola.
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Artist: Ayeola Ayodeji Awizzy