Golden Agri-Resources and Stena Bulk form joint venture
Stena Bulk A/B (“Stena Bulk”) and Golden Agri-Resources Ltd (“GAR”) have set up a new joint venture, Golden Stena Bulk. For a start, the 50-50 joint venture will take over four product tankers ordered by Stena Bulk in June 2012. The newly formed joint venture will also consider investing in more product tankers in the future, according to press release.
The vessels will be deployed in Stena Weco’s logistic system in the global market. Stena-owned Northern Marine Management will be responsible for technical management.
In June 2012, Stena Weco – the joint venture between Stena Bulk and Danish Dannebrog – formed a 50-50 joint venture with GAR. The joint venture, Golden Stena Weco, was aimed at providing an overall solution for GAR’s international transportation of its palm oil products.
“Golden Stena Bulk can be seen as the second step in our collaboration with leading palm oil plantation company, GAR. For us, it’s also a gateway to Asia,” says Erik Hånell, President & CEO of Stena Bulk. “Such strategic partnerships are a well-tried concept for us and involve coordinating complementary assets, know-how and experience. With GAR’s robust network and intimate knowledge of the region, this strategic partnership gives us greater access to the Southeast Asian market as well as to local competence,” says Erik Hånell.
Jesslyne Widjaja, Vice President of Corporate Finance of GAR, welcomes the new joint venture as a further collaboration with Stena Bulk. “With our rapid growth, it is critical that GAR achieves maximum synergies by collaborating with best-in-class shipping partners to secure the safe and efficient transportation of our products,” concluded Ms. Widjaja.
GAR is the world’s second largest palm oil plantation company with a total planted area of 459,500 hectares (including smallholders) as at 30 September 2012, located in Indonesia. It has integrated operations focused on the production of palm-based edible oil and fat.
Founded in 1996, GAR is listed on the Singapore Exchange since 1999 with a market capitalisation of US$6.9 billion as at 28 September 2012. Flambo International Limited, an investment company, is GAR’s largest shareholder, with a 49.95% stake. GAR has several subsidiaries, including PT SMART Tbk which is listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange since 1992.
GAR is focused on sustainable palm oil production. In Indonesia, its primary activities include cultivating and harvesting of oil palm trees; processing of fresh fruit bunch into crude palm oil (“CPO”) and palm kernel; and refining CPO into value-added products such as cooking oil, margarine and shortening. It also has integrated operations in China including a deep-sea port, oilseeds crushing plants, production capabilities for refined edible oil products as well as other food products such as noodles.
With offices in six countries, Stena Bulk is one of the world’s leading tanker shipping companies. The company controls a combined fleet of around 100 tankers. Stena Bulk is part of the Stena Sphere, which has more than 20,000 employees and sales of SEK 60 billion.
Stena Weco, which was formed at the beginning of 2011, is owned equally by the tanker shipping company Stena Bulk and Danish Dannebrog, each with 50 percent. The shipping company specialises in the transportation of vegetable oils and chemicals and is one of the largest cargo carriers between Asia and Europe. About eight million tons of the total of 45 million tons of palm oil produced globally per year is transported from South East Asia to Europe. Stena Weco has a large share of this trade.