Africa fuel firm backed by Vitol plots £2bn float to pump City fees
City banks will pocket big fees after a fuel company running thousands of Shell-branded forecourts in Africa on Tuesday picked London for a blockbuster market float.
Vivo Energy, carved out of Shell in 2011, will list in London and Johannesburg in a deal led by JPMorgan, Citigroup and Credit Suisse.
The float could value the business at up to $3 billion (£2.1 billion).
Vivo’s shareholders Vitol — the oil-trading giant chaired by Ian Taylor — and private equity group Helios will cash out part of their stake in the deal.
No new money it being raised for the business, which employs 2350 people and fills up the tanks of 700,000 people a day.
The group, chaired by Britvic chairman John Daly, runs 1800 Shell-branded petrol stations in high-growth parts of Africa such as Kenya, Uganda and Namibia and sells 5.2 billion litres of fuel a year.
Vivo also has about 30% of revenues in commercial sales, selling 3.8 billion litres of fuel to the construction, mining and aviation sectors.
It also supplies Shell Helix lubricant to retailers across the continent.
Shares are expected to start trading in May after the traditional four-week window for banks to drum up interest. It will be one of the year’s biggest listings.
