The interest, currently held by Imperial Holdings, Transport Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Botswana citizens, and the Citizen Empowerment Development Agency Venture Capital Fund (CEDAVCF), will be acquired for an undisclosed amount. Grindrod’s 100 percent owned subsidiary Fuelogic (Pty) Ltd owns 24.5 percent of Petrologistics. The current managing director Todd Mangadi will purchase a 5 percent share in Petrologistics from Grindrod.
Grindrod first entered the petrochemical industry in 2008 with the acquisition of WM TransLogistics and in 2010 concluded the acquisition of Fuelogic, a bulk liquid transporter operating in Southern Africa.
Petrologistics is a bulk liquid fuel transporter operating in Botswana under long term contracts with customers such as Puma, Engen and Shell. The fleet of 114 specialised road tankers provide a primary and secondary distribution service. Primary distribution is the transportation of fuel from refineries/import terminals to inland terminals, depots and large customers. Secondary distribution is the transportation of fuel from inland terminals and depots to retail/smaller wholesale customers.
Hylton Gray, CEO Grindrod Freight Logistics, said the transaction was in line with the group’s strategy of investing in assets that are an integral part of the supply chain. “Providing transportation and other integrated services for specific commodities along import and export corridors, is key to Grindrod’s service offering,” he added.
Fuelogic and Petrologistics will operate as one business operating a fleet of 380 road tankers serving Sub-Saharan Africa. The business will trade as Grindrod Petrologistics.