Banca March and Stoneshield acquire 10% of Exolum from Dutch fund AGP

Banca March and Stoneshield Capital have taken a stake in Exolum after jointly acquiring 10% of the company from Dutch pension fund manager APG. The transaction, whose value has not been disclosed, represents—according to the company—“a new milestone in the evolution of Exolum’s shareholder structure and strengthens the company’s long-term strategic direction, backed by a solid and diversified group of investors.”

The change in the shareholding structure of the former CLH comes after KKR reached an agreement last September with Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) to acquire its 20% stake in the company for around €1 billion. The transaction valued the Spanish hydrocarbons operator at approximately €6.4 billion, including debt.

For years, Exolum’s capital has been largely dominated by infrastructure funds. The UK-based asset manager CVC is the largest shareholder with a 25% stake, followed by Canada’s Omers, which holds 24.77%, and the US firm KKR, which owns 20%.

The remaining significant shareholders are the French financial group Crédit Agricole, with 10%, and the Canadian pension fund WSIB, which also holds 10%.

APG, which had been a shareholder since 2017, was advised on the transaction by Jefferies and Macquarie Capital as financial advisers, and by Clifford Chance as legal adviser.

Under the terms of the deal, Banca March will acquire a 5% stake in the hydrocarbons logistics operator through a new co-investment project alongside its clients. The bank highlighted that this initiative will allow its clients to gain access to an investment in a strategic company within the energy sector, characterized by a business model with high barriers to entry and a steadily expanding international leadership position.

Co-investment has been one of Banca March’s most distinctive pillars for more than two decades. Under this model, the bank and its clients invest together in the same assets, aligning interests and fostering long-term relationships based on trust. In the field of non-liquid co-investment, the bank focuses on assets such as venture capital, private equity, private debt, real estate and infrastructure, with the aim of diversifying away from the volatility of listed markets and giving clients access to opportunities traditionally reserved for large institutional investors. Since 2008, the group has committed more than €4 billion alongside over 3,900 co-investors, in projects that on average have generated returns of more than twice the capital invested.

Meanwhile, Stoneshield Capital—the investment fund founded by Felipe Morenés Botín-Sanz de Sautuola and Juan Pepa—will take the remaining 5% stake in Exolum. This investment further diversifies its portfolio, which already has a strong presence in the energy sector through Solaria Energía y Medioambiente, where it holds close to 10% of the share capital, as well as significant stakes in other companies such as Mi Campus, one of the largest student housing platforms in Southern Europe; the real estate developer Neinor Homes; and XDC Properties, focused on data centers.

Founded in 1927, Exolum is now an international benchmark in the transportation, management and storage of liquid bulk products and other goods essential to mobility and industry, including biofuels and chemical products. The company operates in ten countries and plays a particularly important role in aviation fuel supply in the United Kingdom, both civil and military.

In Spain, Exolum manages one of the largest and most efficient logistics networks in the world, with nearly 4,000 kilometers of pipelines, 39 facilities and around eight million cubic meters of storage capacity. At the same time, the company is pursuing a dynamic international growth strategy that has positioned it as a leading provider of liquid product logistics, with strategic assets in markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, where its terminals are used to store products such as biofuels and chemical products for industrial processes