$1bn OW Bunker Listing "in the Foreseeable Future"

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday January 10, 2014

Independent bunker supplier OW Bunker could be listed "in the foreseeable future," the supplier's owners Altor Equity Partners (Altor) told Reuters Thursday.

The listing of OW Bunker, which this week refinanced its $450 million revolving credit facility with a new $700 million facility, could give the business a value of $1 billion.

"An exit may well come in the foreseeable future," said Soren Johansen, Altor's head of Danish activities

"It's clear that this company, with its growth potential and its characteristics, could be very attractive to list."

The Swedish private equity firm acquired OW Bunker over 6 years ago when its €1.15 billion ($1.5 billion) Altor Fund II investment vehicle bought the Wrist Group and its subsidiaries.

Altor says it tends to own companies for "around five years."

Chief Executive Jim Pedersen told Reuters on Wednesday that OW Bunker is now twice as big as it was four years ago, and the firm now competes with World Fuel Services Corp. [NYSE:INT] for the title of the world's biggest bunker supplier, each with an estimated 7 percent of the global market.

WFS is currently valued at about 15 times profit, which using the same multiplier would value OW Bunker at $1 billion, according to Reuters estimates of its 2013 performance.

Altor Fund II's investors include Harvard Management Company, Princeton University, Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group, and Swedish inurance group Länsförsäkringar Liv, the Alternative Assets Network reported at the time of the fund's closing.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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