Vivo taken private in £1.7bn deal

AFRICAN petrol station operator Vivo Energy is being taken private by commodities trading powerhouse Vitol in a £1.7bn deal just three years after it floated.

The FTSE 250-listed business said it was recommending the 139p per share offer from Vitol, its largest shareholder with a 36pc stake.

Vivo distributes and markets Shell and Engen-branded fuels across Africa.

The group joined the London Stock Exchange to much fanfare in May 2018, when it was hailed as being a key link between the City and burgeoning African financial markets.

Vitol, which is one of the world’s biggest oil trading houses, is snapping up the Africa-focused group at a time when Europe, the US and much of Asia are looking to switch from petrol to electric cars.

The group is a controversial company that has been at the centre of a number of scandals and paid out millions to settle bribery and corruption charges in Brazil last year.

Vivo was created when Shell sold most of its African fuel retailing business to Vitol and the private equity group Helios in 2011.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said it was ‘probably in everyone’s best interest’ that Vitol has swooped in.