Aegean Marine Petroleum to Acquire H.E.C.

Marine fuel logistics company Aegean Marine Petroleum Network has decided to acquire H.E.C. Europe Limited (H.E.C.), a parent company of Hellenic Environmental Center and a group of companies providing port reception facilities services (the HEC Group).

As informed, Aegean Marine Petroleum inked a definitive agreement to buy all of the outstanding share capital of H.E.C from its shareholders for USD 367 million.

The sellers are companies owned and controlled by Dimitris Melisanidis — Aegean’s founder and former Head of Corporate Development — and certain members of his family, and members of the Agiostratitis family.

“For the past several quarters, the board and senior management have contemplated strategic options for Aegean reflecting the prospects of the traditional bunkering business, the challenges associated with the transition towards a market with a different product mix and the ever-growing needs of the shipping industry for greener products and services,” Yiannis Papanicolaou, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aegean, stated.

“The acquisition of H.E.C. (…) is our first decisive step in the direction of combining higher profitability for our shareholders with environmental sustainability and social accountability. Our next priority is the elaboration of a roadmap to operate successfully within the new landscape post-2020 IMO regulatory changes and beyond,” Papanicolaou added.

Aegean said it expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to adjusted earnings per share in year one.

With the acquisition, the parties aim to achieve goals such as synergy potential, improved utilization of geographic footprint,”utility-like” business model, entry into an untapped market, increased long-term customer base, growth opportunities and positive financial impact.

“The acquisition of H.E.C. enables Aegean to pursue a complementary high margin business with global growth opportunities, while simultaneously enabling the group to continue the optimization of its global asset base and infrastructure,” Jonathan McIlroy, Aegean’s President, commented.

“The combination of Aegean and H.E.C., two companies that I have been involved with since their creation, unites two businesses that are essential to shipping. Just as Aegean has grown to become a worldwide brand synonymous with (…) physical supply of bunker fuels, H.E.C.’s business has the opportunity to expand globally,” Dimitris Melisanidis, Founder of both Aegean and H.E.C., said.

The closing of the acquisition is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions.

Separately, Aegean said it expects to report a net loss of USD 28.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2017. The quarter was impacted by USD 14.5 million of non-recurring charges and USD 12 million of losses that impeded the company’s performance.