Canada’s Parkland Fuel to buy $1.21 bln of stake in Brazil’s SOL Investments

Parkland Fuel, a Canadian petroleum products marketer, announced that it would buy a 75 percent stake in Brazilian investment company SOL Investments for C$1.57 billion ($1.21 billion), to expand further in the U.S. Gulf and the Atlantic coasts.

The deal gives Parkland access to SOL’s 526 retail gas stations and increases its total annual fuel volume to more than 21 billion litres. It also gives Parkland a strong foothold in the Caribbean oil market.

The transaction will be financed by Parkland through debt financing of around $842.8 million underwritten by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and National Bank of Canada. Parkland will also have the option to buy the remaining 25 percent stake in the future at a pre-determined price.

Parkland said it will retain the SOL operating brand and key management and SOL will continue to be managed from the Caribbean. Upon closing of the deal, expected in the late fourth quarter of 2018, SOL’s parent company Simpson Group will own a stake of about 10 percent in Parkland.