Varo Energy will expand its refining capability in Switzerland and Germany and acquire complementary pipeline, storage and wholesale distribution businesses.

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group and the Vitol Group of Companies today announced a transaction intended to establish Varo Energy B.V. as a major midstream energy business in north-west Europe.

Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Vitol and Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP) will each own 50% of an enlarged Varo Energy Group. AtlasInvest will sell its shareholding in Varo Energy to CIEP while Vitol will reduce its current stake to enable each party to own 50%.

In conjunction with CIEP’s investment into Varo Energy, Varo Energy will acquire from Vitol all shares in PT Holdings GmbH, the holding company for Petrotank Neutrale Tanklager GmbH and all shares in Vitol Germany GmbH.

Furthermore, Varo Energy will also acquire, by means of a separate transaction, all shares currently held by OMV Deutschland GmbH (Vienna SE – OMV:AV) in Bayernoil Raffineriegesellschaft mbH, as well as certain downstream assets owned by OMV Deutschland GmbH.

On completion of these transactions, the Varo Energy business will comprise three core areas; refining wholesale distribution and storage, with a combined refining capacity of 160k bbl/d, sales of 10MM m3 per year and 1.7 MM m3 of storage capacity.

Its assets will include the Cressier refinery in Switzerland, all the Petrotank storage facilities throughout Germany, additional storage facilities in Switzerland, and – after the acquisition from OMV   also a 45% shareholding in the Bayernoil refinery in Bavaria, Germany.  The distribution business will continue to serve clients in Hamburg, Bavaria and along the Rhine, as well as throughout Switzerland.

This is the second investment by CIEP, a fund that focuses on oil and gas exploration & production, midstream, refining & marketing and oil field services in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Each of the transactions described above are subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. These transactions are expected to close before or during the first half of 2014. Financial Terms were not disclosed.

Marcel van Poecke, Managing Director and Head of CIEP, said: “Carlyle is committed to the creation of this major new midstream energy business in North-West Europe. It offers an exciting opportunity to combine our international oil and gas experience with the resources we have available in Carlyle’s global energy platform.”

Commenting on the transaction, Ian Taylor, President & CEO, Vitol, said: “This transaction will enable Varo Energy to benefit from the synergies of consolidation and an extensive storage and distribution network.  It is an exciting development which underlines our commitment to Varo Energy and north-west Europe.”
For More Information:

Carlyle
Catherine Armstrong
+44 (0) 207 894 1632;
catherine.armstrong@carlyle.com

Katharina Gebsattel
+49 172 718 68 57
katharina.gebsattel@vub.de

Vitol
Elaine Carroll, Cohn & Wolf (Switzerland, Germany & Austria)
+41 22 908 4076
elaine.carroll@cohnwolfe.com

Elizabeth Adams, Brunswick (UK)
+44 207 396 5331
vitol@brunswickgroup.com

Andrea Schlaepfer, Vitol
+44 207 973 4230

Notes to editors

About Vitol:
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, electricity, 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: vcorp2022stg.wpengine.com

About The Carlyle Group:
The Carlyle Group is a global alternative asset manager with US$185bn of assets under management (“AUM”) across 122 funds and 81 fund of funds vehicles as of September 30, 2013. Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pensions. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies and Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,450 people in 34 offices across six continents.

Web:www.carlyle.com
Videos:www.youtube.com/onecarlyle
Tweets:www.twitter.com/onecarlyle
Podcasts: www.carlyle.com/about-carlyle/market-commentary/481

About Carlyle’s Energy Platform:
Carlyle has carefully constructed a broad-based energy investing platform (over $25bn in AUM) offering innovative investment opportunities, including international energy investing in oil & gas exploration & production, midstream, oil field services and refining & marketing in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia (CIEP), U.S. energy investing (NGP Energy Capital Management where Carlyle owns 47.5% of revenues), project finance (Energy Mezzanine), Power (Cogentrix) and Commodities (Vermillion) and the firm’s proven buyout capabilities in transactions such as Philadelphia Energy Solutions and Kinder Morgan. Supporting this is the Carlyle network and capital markets experience.

About CIEP:
Established in May 2013, the CIEP team will focus on oil and gas exploration and production midstream, oil field services and refining and marketing in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. CIEP is led by Marcel van Poecke, a leading international energy investor and operator, and his team is comprised of long-tenured international energy professionals with oil and gas industry investment and operational expertise. It includes Paddy Spink, Senior Advisor to CIEP with 35 years’ upstream experience in Africa, Latin America & Europe and Carlyle Managing Director Joost Dröge, an industry veteran with over 25 years’ downstream experience in Europe. The CIEP team focuses on transactions where it has a distinctive competitive advantage and can create tangible value for companies in which it invests, through industry specialization, deployment of human capital and access to Carlyle’s global network. The team operates primarily from offices in London while leveraging Carlyle’s local offices to pursue opportunities across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America and is reinforced by Carlyle’s regional fund teams and global investment professionals.