MOSCOW (MRC) -- Private equity company Carlyle Group will increase its stake in Varo Energy by buying out one of two other partners in the Swiss refining firm, the companies said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Carlyle is part owner of Varo with Dutch investment firm Reggeborgh and energy trader Vitol. Varo said Carlyle would raise its share by acquiring Reggeborgh’s interest.
Varo owns Switzerland’s Cressier refinery and a majority share of the Bayernoil refinery in Germany. It also has marketing and storage businesses in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.
Marcel van Poecke, managing director and head of Carlyle International Energy Partners, said Varo was expected to expand “as it leverages its solid platform and further capitalizes on the opportunities presented by the shift towards low carbon."
Varo was valued at about 2 billion euros (USD2.4 billion) when it planned to list on the Amsterdam stock market in 2018. But the flotation was cancelled, with Varo citing market volatility due to tensions in relations between the United States and China at the time.
As per MRC, Dutch company Akzo Nobel NV has decided to sell its special purpose chemicals division to the American Carlyle Group and Singapore's GIC for EUR10.1 billion.
Besides, Varo Energy BV's owners, US private equity firm Carlyle Group and commodities trader Vitol, are looking at an initial public offering next year that could value the European oil refiner at about USD2 B.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
MRC