Thebe investment Corporation, Jicaro and VTTI invest in fuel storage facility for Cape Town Harbour

R650 million facility will ensure Western Cape has sufficient fuel to meet demand

Cape Town, 18 September 2014 – Burgan Cape Terminals today announced an investment by Thebe Investment Corporation for the development of new fuel storage and distribution facilities earmarked for Cape Town Harbour.
 
 Thebe Investment Corporation acquired 15% of Burgan Cape Terminals. 
 Other shareholders include global storage terminal operator VTTI (70%) and Jicaro, a newly established 100% black owned BBBEE company with experience in the oil and gas sector (15%). 
 Established in 2008, Burgan Cape Terminals was formed in response to the severe shortage of storage capacity in South Africa and Government’s drive to improve security of fuel supply and increase storage capacity in line with future fuel demands and the National Development Plan. 
 Last year, the Port of Cape Town (TNPA) awarded Burgan Cape Terminals a 20-year contract to develop and manage fuel storage and distribution facilities at the Eastern Mole of Cape Town Harbour. 
 
 Commenting on the deal, Zukie Siyotula, Chief Executive of Thebe Capital says: “This is a great partnership of skills, expertise and experience and I am extremely excited about the potential that the fuel terminal can unlock, both for Thebe Investment Corporation and for South Africa.  This investment allows us to increase our focus on the growth that will come from the energy sector and complements our existing portfolio and strategy perfectly.”
 
 The fuel storage facility in Cape Town Harbour will be multi-purpose and be used for the storage and distribution of both locally produced and imported fuels.  Companies will ‘rent’ space from Burgan for storage of their fuel product. Burgan has already signed long-term (10 year) contracts with oil companies, who jointly aim to throughput up to 805,000 m3/year. They will mainly off-take their products from the Chevron Oil refinery. In case of product shortfall, customers have the option to import product subject to the regulations governing the fuel industry. Burgan’s state of the art truck loading facility will allow for efficient and swift distribution to end-users with limited impact on the surroundings.

 For this project, Burgan entered into a joint venture with Rotterdam-based VTTI, which operates, develops and acquires refined petroleum product and crude oil facilities and energy infrastructure assets on a global scale.  Total capital expenditure for the project is estimated to be around R650 million.
   
 Wandile Mseleku, CEO of Burgan Cape Terminals says: “We are very proud to partner with Thebe Investment Corporation and VTTI.  Thebe has an exceptional track record as a pioneering black owned investment company that is known for its active investment philosophy.  VTTI is one of the world’s top fuel storage infrastructure developers and its experience in and focus on developing storage facilities safely and reliably will be of enormous benefit for this project.”
 “The development of the fuel storage facility in Cape Town will not only address the country’s need to increase fuel infrastructure and capacity but it will also have a positive effect on the economy, on global skills transfer and on the transformation of the local energy sector,” says Mseleku.
 Govert Rietema, Director of Global Business Development at VTTI BV says, “The ready uptake of the facility by customers makes it clear that there is growing local demand for refined petroleum products in the region. We are so pleased to be able to share our extensive global experience with our local partners and look forward to working together.”
 
 Economic impact
 It is anticipated that the construction phase of the project will create approximately 110 to 130 contract jobs, with an average duration of 18 to 22 months. Approximately 21 operational jobs would be created once the facility is operational. 
 
 Regulatory approval
 In order to construct the facility, environmental authorisation is required. Leading global sustainability consultancy ERM has been commissioned to independently conduct the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). ERM has submitted the Final Environmental Impact Report to the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning for approval. Burgan is also required to obtain a licence from the National Energy Regulator of SA (NERSA) to establish the facility, for which it has applied.
 Ends
 
 About Thebe Investment Corporation
 Thebe Investment Corporation is an African investment management company which was founded in 1992 as a wholly-owned entity of the Batho-Batho Trust established by anti-apartheid stalwarts, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Enos Mabuza, and Beyers Naudé.
 
 Thebe’s founders established the company to promote socio-economic transformation through the economic participation of the previously marginalized South Africans. In this regard, Thebe is unique in the sense that it does not exist only to make a profit, but to drive community development through assisting communities to be actively involved in sustainable wealth creation.
 
 Thebe has a proud history of being an entrepreneurial wealth creator. Under the guidance of founding CEO and executive chairman, Vusi Khanyile, Thebe has grown an initial capital investment of R100,000 into an investment portfolio of assets worth over R6 billion.
 
 Thebe has grown its portfolio through either starting greenfield businesses and acquiring controlling or minority stakes in operating companies. Thebe successfully established South Africa’s first regional airline SA Express, fuel retailer Tepco Petroleum, and commercial radio station Kaya FM. Tepco was later merged into Shell SA when Thebe bought a 25% stake in the petroleum company in 2002.
 
 To date, Thebe has made large acquisitions in blue-chip companies (both global and South African) such as Shell, Vodacom, Compass Group, Combined Motor Holdings, Altech Netstar, and Safripol.
 
 Thebe has a skilled team of investment professionals, which originates and executes transactions. Post transaction conclusion, the team actively partners with the investee companies to grow their market share in the industries they operate in. Thebe’s community development initiatives are driven by the Thebe Foundation, an independent trust, whose focus areas are education and the promotion of enterprise development in previously disadvantaged communities.
 
 Through the foundation’s intervention, thousands of learners in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape are benefiting from the rollout of its programmes that seek to improve numeracy, literacy, maths and science skills. In Gauteng, about 120 SMME owners have gone through a 12-week business management course sponsored by the Thebe Foundation. The course is offered by the University of Johannesburg (UJ).
 
 The foundation also assigns Thebe executives to mentor the UJ graduates (entrepreneurs), who are given critical skills in growing their businesses. The foundation is also assisting some of the SMMEs to supply products and services to Thebe group of companies.
 
 Website: www.thebe.co.za
 
 
 About Jicaro
 Established in 2014, Jicaro is a 100% Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment investment company which counts amongst its empowerment members women, youth and representatives from rural communities.  The company has vast technical and commercial oil and gas experience.
 
 About VTTI
 VTTI B.V. is a major player in the storage and terminal business created in 2006. A 50/50 joint venture between the Vitol Group, one of the world’s largest energy traders and MISC, the major Malaysian shipping company, VTTI owns and operates 11 terminals, offering a total capacity of 8 million cubic meters, across five continents.
 In 2014, VTTI B.V. formed VTTI Energy Partners LP (listed at the New York Stock Exchange, ticker “VTTI”). VTTI Energy Partners LP is a fee-based, growth-oriented limited partnership, created to own, operate, develop and acquire refined petroleum product and crude oil terminals, and related energy infrastructure. Initial assets comprise a broad-based portfolio consisting of six terminals from the VTTI portfolio that are strategically located in key energy hubs around the world. The investment in Burgan Cape Terminals announced today is not part of VTTI Energy Partners LP.
 VTTI operates according to the highest international Health, Safety and Environmental standards in the industry.