VIVO Energy acquires majority shareholding in Shell Ghana

Accra, 1^st August 2013 --- Vivo Energy, the company formed by Vitol, Helios Investment Partners and Shell to distribute and market Shell-branded fuels and lubricants across Africa, has acquired a majority shareholding in Shell Ghana Limited.

VIVO ENERGY MD - FRED OSORO

The company, which will be renamed Vivo Energy Ghana, will be headed up by Fred Osoro as Managing Director. He will take over from Vincent Richter, the former acting Managing Director. Mr Osoro has twenty years’ experience in the energy industry during which he has held various management and marketing positions for Esso, Mobil and Engen, including Managing Director for Engen Ghana and Nigeria. His appointment to the Board will be formalised at the next Board meeting.

Christian Chammas, CEO of Vivo Energy, said: “Ghana is an important market and a growing economy which is set to benefit from significant developments in the energy sector. We are acquiring a business with great potential; a long history in Ghana, a high calibre workforce and a large and diversified customer base. Vivo Energy is looking forward to serving our Ghanaian customers and investing in the business, to ensure it realises its full potential under Fred Osoro’s leadership.”

The Shell brand has been in Ghana for 85 years and Shell has been the leading marketer of fuels and lubricants. Vivo Energy Ghana has a storage capacity of 8,300m³ and 124 retail stations with the majority offering Shell Cards and convenience retail stores. Over the years, the company expanded its portfolio by acquiring Texaco in 1988. Vivo Energy Ghana employs 134 people but the business provides indirect employment to over 1,000 people. The company is recognised as the leader in the oil industry especially championing and setting standards for safety in sales and distribution.

This is the latest development in a venture initially announced in February 2011. It brings to fifteen the number of African markets in which Vivo Energy has a presence.

Notes to editors
An invitation for a press conference will be issued shortly.
For further questions, please contact marjolein.vankampen@vivoenergy.com
Further details on Vivo Energy are available on: www.vivoenergy.com

Vivo Energy operates in Retail; Commercial Fuels (Marine, Mining and Aviation in partnership with Vitol Aviation); Liquefied Petroleum Gas; Lubricants and Bitumen in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritius, Madagascar, Morocco, Mali, Namibia, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda and now Ghana.

Vivo Energy employs around 2,100 permanent employees and operates 1,300 retail stations under the Shell brand and has access to approximately 900,000 cubic meters of storage. Shell and Vivo Lubricants will have blending capacity at plants in six countries (Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Guinea) producing Shell branded lubricants.

Vitol and Helios each own 40% of Vivo Energy, with Shell holding the remaining 20%. Shell and Vivo Lubricants is 50% owned by Shell and 50% owned by Vitol and Helios. Shell and Vivo Lubricants manufacture and blend Shell branded lubricant. It will market and sell lubricants through an exclusive Master Distribution Agreements with Vivo Energy companies. Shell remains the overarching customer-facing brand and the name on Vivo Energy’s fuels and lubricants.

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, power, 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 2012 were $303 billion. For more information, please see www.vitol.com.

Helios Investment Partners is an Africa-focused private investment firm. Helios bridges international capital and know-how to African talent and enterprise. The firm has built a record that spans creating start-ups to providing established companies with growth capital and expertise. One of the few independent pan-African private equity investment firms founded and led by Africans, Helios manages funds totalling more than $1.7 billion. Investors include leading endowments and foundations, global funds-of-funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, development finance institutions and high net worth individuals.

Founded in 2004, Helios invests in new business formations, growth equity investments, leveraged acquisitions, and structured investments in listed companies, making investments of between US$30 million and US$200 million per transaction. The Helios team applies developed world investment tools to African business opportunities, taking a platform-building approach to portfolio development. Helios’ portfolio companies operate in more than 30 countries in all regions of the continent. Further details on Helios Investment Partners can be found at: www.heliosinvestment.com

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 90 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects. For further information, visit: www.shell.com