Petronas sells its stake in African fuel station chain Engen

The Malaysian state-owned energy major Petronas has reached a deal to sell its 74% stake in the South African fuel retailer to British firm Vivo Energy. The deal, of an undisclosed amount, will see Petronas give up control over 1300 service stations that Engen manages across Southern Africa.

Petronas had been wanting to shed its shareholding in Engen since 2013 when opened talks with South African firm PetroSA but failed to clinch a deal. Two years later rumours started to circulate that Engen was planning an initial public offering on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). But that did not materialise either.

Now that the agreement is finally done Engen and Vivo are expected to merge their businesses under the Engen brand.

Vivo was founded in 2011 as a distributor of Shell-branded fuels, following the British multinational oil and gas company's divestment of some of its downstream business in 14 African markets. It has had an existing relationship with Engen prior to this latest transaction. In 2019, it bought Engen's operations in nine African markets. With the buyout of Petronas’ holdings in Engen the British firm will emerge as one of the top fuel retailers in the region with a combined brand portfolio of 3,900 service stations across 27 African countries.

Petronas first acquired shares in Engen in 1996 and became its majority owner in 1998. The Asian hydrocarbon major has both upstream and downstream operations in over two dozen African countries including Angola, Gabon and Mauritania. More recently it has turned its attention to new oil and gas concessions in Egypt.

 

References

‘Petronas in talks to sell Engen stake’, IOL, 18 July 2013

‘Petronas calls off deal with PetroSA’, The Star, 14 January 2015

‘Vitol and Helios complete acquisition of 100% of Vivo Energy’, Vitol, 26 April 2017

‘Petronas and SA partners to launch Engen IPO in 2020’, Business Day, 01 October 2019

‘Oil trader Vitol snaps up UK's Vivo Energy in $2.3 bln deal’, Reuters, 25 November 2021

‘Engen and Vivo Energy to combine to create a Pan-African energy champion’, Vivo Energy, 09 February 2023

‘Petronas announces a new shareholder in Engen’, Petronas, 09 February 2023

‘Vivo Energy’, Wikipedia, Accessed 17 February 2023