Rubis Terminal recently acquired Tepsa, a Spanish company that provides storage for bulk base oil, lubricants and other petroleum products. Terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition will close upon approval from Spanish administrative and antitrust authorities. Rubis Terminal is a joint venture between French company Rubis, which holds a 55% stake, and U.S.-based investment fund I Squared Capital, which holds the remaining 45%.
Tepsa, controlled by Petrofrance S.A, operates coastal terminals in Barcelona, Bilbao, Tarragona and Valencia, with a combined 912,000 cubic meters (820,000 metric tons) of storage capacity. The storage is for chemicals, biofuel and other petroleum products, such as base oils and lubricants.
“The transfer of Tepsa to Rubis is a significant step and will allow our company to join a larger group with an international dimension,” Rubis said in a July 21 press release. “It will enable Tepsa to foster its development in Spain as well as abroad … in becoming one of the leading storage providers in Europe.”
Tepsa has stored base oils in its terminals since the early 1990s, the company told Lube Report. It generated €52 million (U.S. $62 million) in revenues in 2019 and said it has significant growth potential due to its strong position in the Spanish market, with expansion plans already underway.
“In 2017 we were awarded with a major contract from an oil company to create a hub in the Western Mediterranean for storage of Group I and Group II base oils,” a company spokesperson said, adding that Tepsa’s terminals are very flexible and polyvalent, which means they can store a wide range of products. “It means that depending on the market dynamics, we are able to store lubes and greases in different locations. Currently, and of course with different weight and importance, we are storing oils in all our terminals in the Western Mediterranean.”
With this acquisition, Rubis Terminal will increase its size by around 30%, and it is the first acquisition since the Rubis – I Squared Capital JV inception in April 2020, the company said.
“This is a strategic transaction for Rubis Terminal, creating a platform to capture product flows in the Mediterranean region, as well as to explore an entrance into high-growth markets in Latin America,” the company said in a recent news release. In addition to diversifying the company’s geographic footprint, this acquisition is also expected to result in commercial synergies with Rubis Terminal’s existing positions in France and in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp.” Rubis operates terminals primarily in France and other European countries, such as Belgium and the Netherlands, with 3.6 million cubic meters of total rental capacity and 13 million tons of annual throughput.