Ardian, the independent private investment company, is to acquire an additional five per cent equity stake in the CLH Group, the Spanish oil products and storage company, from Compañía Española de Petróleos (CEPSA).
With this investment, Ardian will become the largest shareholder in the company, increasing its shareholding to 15 per cent. Ardian first became a shareholder in CLH in 2011 with the acquisition of a 10 per cent stake. The closing of the transaction is expected before the end of this year.
This is the latest transaction from Ardian’s third generation Infrastructure Fund which is currently seeing a high number of deal opportunities within European infrastructure. Ardian’s infrastructure team, which manages and/or advises EUR3.1bn of assets, recently completed the acquisition of London Luton Airport as well as an investment in Enel Rete Gas.
CLH is the owner and operator of the largest Spanish oil products and storage network. It has more than 4,000 km of pipeline and seven million cubic metres of storage capacity, including strategic national reserves.
Mathias Burghardt, head of infrastructure at Ardian, says: “The investments recently completed by our team demonstrate the quality of the current European deal pipeline in infrastructure. We will continue to focus on core infrastructure assets and securing proprietary deal flow through our extensive European network.
“This additional investment in CLH is further evidence of Ardian’s long-term commitment to supporting quality and successful companies. CLH is one of the largest and most technologically advanced private companies in the sector. We look forward to working together with the management and other shareholders to continue to help CLH reach its ambitious development targets.”
