Puma Energy

History

The Puma brand was created in Argentina in 1929 by Compañía General de Combustibles (CGC). CGC was founded in 1920 to transport and market crude oil and its by-products around the country. By the end of the decade CGC was operating its own-brand service stations in Argentina under the Puma brand. Between 1930 and 1996 Puma brand’s profile in the Argentinian market increased through an expansion in the number of retail sites and investments in advertising. The Puma brand soon travelled further afield after CGC established Puma service stations in Ecuador, in order to supplement its crude oil exploration activities.

In 1997 Trafigura purchased the rights to the Puma brand ushering in a new phase of development for Puma. The "new" firm was founded in Central America in 1997 as an oil storage and distribution network, and is now active in Latin America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It was acquired by Trafigura in 2000. In 2010 the firm announced the acquisition of five retail companies from BP Africa. Since then it has acquired further fuel marketing assets in Central America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

Africa

The firm has operations in nineteen West, Central and Southern African countries. It entered the African market in Congo-Brazzaville in 2002 before expanding into Ghana. Mozambique, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola as one of the largest investors in the sub-Saharan downstream sector. In September 2011 Puma completed the deal to acquire BP's downstream interests in Namibia (100%), Botswana (100%), Zambia (75%), Malawi (50%) and Tanzania (50%) for US$296 million. The deal handed the company a portfolio of retail assets across the five countries, comprising commercial and aviation fuel, lubricants, over 190 service stations, several storage depots and an import terminal.

The Botswana business accounted for a significant share of the total price and marked the first time thefirm had entered a landlocked African country, giving the firm a cross-continental presence from Namibia to Mozambique.

Also in 2010 the firm formed an alliance with Castrol to distribute lubricant brands in the new Southern African markets, as well as Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2012 the firm acquired two 5,000 cubic metres (180,000 cu ft) import terminals for liquefied petroleum gas in Benin and Senegal.

In 2015 the firm expanded its operations in South Africa through the acquisition of Brent Oil and Drakensberg Oil’s local retail assets and lubricant business. The firm currently has 123 retail sites in South Africa.

Latin America

In 2010 Puma Energy formed a regional subsidiary, Puma Energy Caribe, which bought Caribbean Petroleum Corporation's fire-damaged fuel depot in Puerto Rico and 147 Gulf-branded service stations. In March 2012 the firm acquired ExxonMobil's downstream businesses in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Belize, establishing it as one of the region's largest petroleum companies. In Nicaragua the firm has 40% of the retail market as well as an oil refinery in Managua, acquired from Exxon, with a capacity of 20,000 barrels per day (3,200 m³/d).

In July 2012 the firm purchased Chevron's fuel distribution and storage businesses in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. The assets include 192 Texaco service stations, an aviation fuel supply and storage tanks with a combined capacity of 430,000 barrels (68,000 m³). A further acquisition from ExxonMobil was made in November 2012 by the purchase of Esso Standard Oil's supply and marketing business in the Dominican Republic. In February 2013 Puma Energy and Castrol formed a new partnership to market Castrol lubricants in all six of Puma's Central American markets as well as Paraguay.

In March 2015 Puma Energy purchased all the assets of the Colombian fuel storage and distribution firm Save Combustibles, including 135 service stations. The deal was the company’s first acquisition in Colombia.

Asia-Pacific

In July 2012 Puma Energy announced its acquisition of Singapore-based Chevron Kuo Pte, owner of a 70% share of Chevron Bitumen Vietnam – an importer and distributor of asphalt for infrastructure projects in Vietnam. The deal was completed in November 2012. Thus, the firm expanded its activities into the global bitumen market.

In October 2012 Indonesian oil and gas company MedcoEnergi signed an agreement with Puma Energy to sell a 64% stake in its liquid-fuel storage and distribution subsidiary, PT Medco Sarana Kalibaru (MSK). MSK's downstream assets include a 22,700 cubic metres (800,000 cu ft) high speed diesel (HSD) storage facility in Jakarta as well as transport infrastructure and a distribution network for supplying fuel to mining companies in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

In January 2013 Puma Energy bought Neumann Petroleum in Queensland, Australia, in a deal that included a chain of 125 service stations and an $18 million bulk seaboard fuel terminal in Brisbane. In February 2013 the firm doubled its number of Australian petrol stations with the acquisition of Ausfuel from Archer Capital for $652 million, becoming the country's largest independent fuel retailer. In February 2013 it bought Central Combined Group, the largest independent fuel marketer in central Queensland.

In June 2014, Puma Energy acquired InterOil Corp (IOC)'s Napa Napa oil refinery, 52 service stations and 30 fuel depots, terminal and aviation sites in Papua New Guinea for $526 million.

In November 2014, Puma Energy opened the Langsat Bitumen Terminal, a 74,000-tonne bitumen storage facility in Johor, Malaysia.

Europe

In March 2015 Puma Energy made its first acquisition in the United Kingdom, purchasing the disused Milford Haven Refinery in Wales from Murphy Oil subsidiary Murco Petroleum for use as a fuel storage site.

Ownership

Trafigura is Puma Energy's biggest shareholder, with a 49% stake. Sonangol Holdings, a subsidiary of Angola's state-owned oil company, owns 30% of the company while the remaining minority shares are owned by private shareholders. The latest transaction in November 2013 (sale of 10% of the share capital of the company) valued Puma Energy at around $5 billion.

In December 2012 the Financial Times reported that Trafigura had designated 2014 as the 'earliest' date for a public offering of Puma Energy, with London the most likely market. A Reuters article that week quoted a company statement saying that Puma Energy was "well funded by its existing shareholders" and had "no immediate needs to go to the public markets" and that an IPO was "one of various options at some point in the future".

Despite being controlled by Trafigura, Puma Energy is not financially consolidated to its biggest shareholder.

Sports sponsorships

Puma Energy sponsors a number of sporting events in Africa including the Zambia International Rally. In 2012 the firm sponsored the Malawi Open Tennis Championship. In 2012, the firm joined forces with an insurance company Madison General to sponsor Zambian national rally champion Mohammed Essa. The two firms renewed their sponsorship of Essa in February 2013.

In September 2014 Puma Energy became an official sponsor of the 2015 Pacific Games.