* Gains access to 6 mln T Mozambique terminal
* Vitol to pay $67.7 million
* Vitol, Grindrod create separate coal trading firm
GENEVA, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Commodities trader Vitol
has agreed to buy a 35 percent stake in a subsidiary of the
South African shipping firm Grindrod, giving it access
to a Mozambique coal terminal and enlarging its coal trading
operations, Vitol said on Wednesday.
The Geneva-based company will pay $67.7 million for loan
claims and shares in Grindrod Mauritius Limitada, which owns the
6 million tonne Maputo coal and magnetite terminal.
Vitol and Grindrod will also combine their coal trading
books to create a separate trading company of which Vitol will
own 65 percent and Grindrod will own 35 percent, the firm said.
“Both parts of this transaction create opportunities to
underpin a significant expansion of our coal trading business,
which is an increasingly important part of Vitol’s global
trading activity,” said Bob Finch, Vitol’s head of coal trading.
The deal is conditional upon approval from the Mozambique
government.
Companies in the coal sector have begun to look beyond South
Africa, dominated by the giant 72 million-tonne-a-year Richards
Bay Coal Terminal, to explore export routes in Mozambique and
Namibia.
Continued…
