Glencore, black owners said to be sole partners in Chevron deal

Glencore and a black-investor group are the only partners in a potential $1bn deal to buy Chevron’s southern African assets, according to three people familiar with the situation.

Business Day reported earlier that South Africa’s Public Investment Corp., which invests the pensions of civil servants, could emerge as a 50% in a joint bid with Glencore. It didn’t disclose how it got the information. The assets to be acquired include a 100,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Cape Town and more than 800 gas stations in South Africa and neighboring Botswana.

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There hasn’t been any indication that the PIC, which handles South African state-worker pensions and is the continent’s largest money manager, would take up any of the stake, said one of the people, who requested anonymity because the information wasn't public. A spokesman for the PIC said no investment decision had been made.

Chevron agreed last year to sell its 75% holding in the southern African business to the Chinese group known as Sinopec. However, the deal stalled after black-owned minority partners, backed by Glencore, exercised a preemptive right on the stake.

Glencore is supporting black-investor group Off The Shelf Investments Fifty Six Pty Ltd. as a technical and financial partner, it said previously. Off The Shelf’s investors own the other 25% of the Chevron business.