Forte Oil Plc, a Nigerian integrated
energy solutions provider, on Tuesday said Mercuria Energy Group
Holdings SA had acquired 17 per cent of its equity, valued at $200m
(about N39.4bn).
The company said that Mercuria Energy,
the world’s third largest independent energy traders and asset
operators, had made inroads into the West African energy sector through a
direct investment in Forte Oil Plc.
Forte Oil said it had through the
investment secured additional working capital to continue its “meteoric
growth and dominance in the downstream sector, upstream services, power
generation and upstream exploration in its bid to becoming Nigeria’s
premier integrated energy solutions provider.”
According
to a statement by the firm on Tuesday, Mercuria is joining forces with
Forte Oil at an auspicious time when equitable funding and expertise is
needed to expand and intensify its market penetration to give the
company the leverage to further create a positive impact on all
shareholders.
It said, “This is another step towards
projecting Forte Oil Plc as the investment of choice as reflected in our
mission statement.
“The investment, which has been approved
by the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange
Commission, is geared towards improving the group’s working capital and
will be used for the expansion of the downstream and power generation
business in Nigeria as well as positioning itself for future
opportunities in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.”
According to the statement, the Mercuria
network encompasses 38 offices in 27 countries and the group employs
more than 1,000 people of 40 nationalities. The company trades in more
than 50 countries, sourcing, supplying and trading crude oil and refined
petroleum products.
Forte Oil, formerly known as African
Petroleum Plc, markets refined petroleum products for automobiles and
machines. It operates various services, including retail petroleum
product marketing, industrial fuels and lubricants marketing, lubricant
production and marketing, among others.Culled from Punch
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