Last week, the reputed British newspaper Financial Times (FT) announced that the Russian energy group Lukoil is about to sell its largest asset in the Balkans to a dubious Qatari-British consortium. According to the publication, the Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery, which is also Bulgaria's largest company by revenue, would be bought by a consortium composed of Oryx Global, controlled by Qatari businessman Ganim bin Saad al Saad, and London-based commodities trader DL Hudson - preferably, by the end of the year.
As is often the case with unofficial information about such major deals, this is not all true. Two days later, the Russian company issued an official disclaimer. The version that Capital weekly put together from its own sources is quite different from the FT's. In short, there is a sale procedure and it is indeed at an advanced stage, but in fact not only the refinery is being sold, but the entire business of the Russian group in the country. Binding offers are expected by the end of November, so at this stage no one has been chosen and the final decision on whether a deal will go through is likely to be early next year, with finalization also taking more time to get regulatory approval.
It is no secret that Lukoil is selling under pressure from the Bulgarian authorities, so a change in the local or global political situation could shift its plans. The refinery has been an extremely profitable business over the past few years and the company may just procrastinate to fake an exit.
But it is certainly true that the candidate mentioned by the FT did express an interest at an earlier stage, alongside dozens of others, but dropped out before the data room and due diligence stages. In fact, there were nearly a dozen willing bidders left at the final stage, and among them there were no financial investors, but strategic international players with oil resources to supply the refinery and players with other core businesses.
Otherwise, the sector is understandably buzzing with rumors about who is buying what and for how much money. There are rumors of sums in the range of USD 3 billion, as well as reports that it is only about selling a majority stake in the refinery. So amidst all the accounts, it is not so surprising that information circulated by a reputable Western publication like the FT quickly spread as an almost certain fact. A more critical look leaves many question marks. At the very least, the asset appears to be quite a big bite for the named participants in the consortium in question, and they themselves are without significant experience in the sector. So at best, if they had indeed made it to the final stage, they seem more like a stooge.
A strange set of candidate-buyers
So, who stands behind the strange Oryx and DL Hudson consortium? According to available information, the owner of the former, 60-year-old Ghani bin Saad al Saad, has held various public positions in the emirate in the past including serving as an adviser to the prime minister on the management of the oil-rich country's multi-billion dollar sovereign wealth fund. In parallel, however, he has been running his own business under the Ghanim Bin Saad Al Saad & Sons Holdings (GSSG) Group. It has holdings in a variety of sectors and owned Rizon Air, the first private airline in the Middle East, which closed in 2016.
More recently, it seems to have an appetite for opportunistic investments in the fuel sector, including in buying Lukoil's Italian refinery. It then also emerged as wanting to acquire and bring back to life oil capacity in Curacao following the lifting of sanctions against Venezuela in 2023, with Oryx Global announcing in July 2024 that it had leased a terminal and refinery on the island. Saad's name also surfaced in a corruption scandal surrounding USD 22 million transferred to the accounts of then Brazilian Football Federation president Ricardo Teixeira that helped the Arab country secure hosting the 2022 World Cup.
The other rumored bidder is not a particularly well-known player. DL Hudson was founded in 2016 in London and was originally called Dealoil. According to data from corporate information provider North Data and the UK's Companies House, it made about USD 2 billion in turnover in 2023, mostly from metals trading, and had a profit of USD 13.3 million. Rektron Aq Limited, which is part of Rektron Group Inc. of Vancouver, Canada, is listed as the principal owner of DL Hudson. It has only recently been listed in Canada and Frankfurt, having raised USD 5 million in September through an IPO, although initial versions of the prospectus as early as late 2023 sought USD 15 million. It currently has a market capitalisation of less than USD 100 million.
Rektron also owns DHL Istros, through which it controls fuel depots on the Danube, which it revealed days ago it had sold for USD 36 million, but payment is still pending. According to the group's 2023 accounts, it has just over USD 250 million in assets and less than USD 10m in cash. Its turnover is about USD 2 billion and it made a USD 12.9 million operating profit. All these numbers make it rather unclear how the commodities trader would finance its participation in the purchase of Lukoil Neftochim Burgas.
DL Hudson told Capital weekly that the company and its management had no further comment at this stage, but "we will be in touch if things progress." Oryx Global confirmed that it is participating with DL Hudson in the procedure for the sale of assets in Bulgaria, initiated through a European investment bank, but due to confidentiality agreements could not comment on the procedure and its status.
One foot already in Bulgaria
Interestingly, according to Rektron's listing prospectus from June, its subsidiary DL Hudson had a representative office in Bulgaria and interests in the country. It says that after the IPO the company will discuss whether to set up a joint venture with a Bulgarian oil company to lease a fuel depot in Varna with 30,000 metric tons of capacity. In this way, it plans to position itself more firmly in the Balkans by importing gasoline and diesel from Central Asia via the Black Sea. There is no mention of a refinery.
According to Capital weekly's sources, the company's local representative who has arranged meetings for it is Atanas Kolarov. He has been known in the fuel sector since the 1990s as a director of the bankrupt Pleven refinery Plama and its main creditor, and later its privatiser Euroenergy Holding, which the media then linked to the interests of the powerful factors in the ruling BSP - Andrei Lukanov and Krasimir Premyanov. The refinery was driven to bankruptcy by the turn of the century.
To some extent, Kolarov's connection with DL Hudson is indirectly confirmed by data. In 2022, he acquired a company with no operations named Gilmore Media and rechristened it DL Hudson Balkans. On LinkedIn, Kolarov also identified himself as the CEO of DL Hudson Balkans Ltd. His company has not filed accounts in recent years and there is no indication that it is now actually operating or employing staff. Despite the similarity in name he is the sole owner and managing director.
According to Capital weekly, the oil base in question in Varna, Story Oil, is owned by Grisha Ganchev-controlled Petrol. There were indeed inquiries about it from DL Hudson and there were negotiations for its lease, but no deal was reached. According to one source, they have floated larger ideas to acquire other warehouses as well as a business plan to use the leased facilities in their prospectus to try to attract financing.
Who really wants an oil giant?
Lukoil announced late last year that a sale of its assets in Bulgaria was possible. Then the Russian company said that various options were being discussed and would be analyzed with the help of international consultants. Over the past year, the potential deal has become an arena for political mediation attempts. In the last few months, sector insiders have commented that there is a data room and a shortlist of candidates, as well as strong initial interest. The main scenarios envisaged a strategic investor, an offshore company or fund and the possibility of a fictitious exit for the Russian company. A decision was expected after the Bulgarian and US elections.
The main drawback was the weak interest from strategic investors due to the location of the refinery and the difficulties in supplying it with oil, the green transition and the investments needed in this direction, as well as the usual negative profit margin in refining.
Some of the logical candidates are from the East, with Kazakhstan's KazMunayGas, owner of Romania's Rompetrol, and Azerbaijan's Socar, which has a huge refinery in Turkey, among the names mentioned. According to the FT, the Turkish Opet group was also on the shortlist, but this was not confirmed by Capital's sources.
Instead, there are two other Turkish contenders - Cengiz (a holding company with interests in construction, energy) and Oyak (a pension fund that started its history as serving the army but grew into one of the country's largest industrial groups). According to market officials, the list of contenders also includes Hungary's MOL, which could even be considered one of the most highly motivated due to its need for raw material and sea access. Some time ago there were reports that the company was also interested in Lukoil's assets in Romania. There are suspicions that some of the bidders may have local faces behind them.
One of the options for Burgas was that the Italian scenario could be repeated. Lukoil sold the ISAB oil refinery in Sicily to the Cypriot investment company G.O.I. Energy. The partner is the commodities trader Trafigura, which will provide the supply. According to the FT, the price was around 1.5 billion euro.
Last week, the reputed British newspaper Financial Times (FT) announced that the Russian energy group Lukoil is about to sell its largest asset in the Balkans to a dubious Qatari-British consortium. According to the publication, the Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery, which is also Bulgaria's largest company by revenue, would be bought by a consortium composed of Oryx Global, controlled by Qatari businessman Ganim bin Saad al Saad, and London-based commodities trader DL Hudson - preferably, by the end of the year.
As is often the case with unofficial information about such major deals, this is not all true. Two days later, the Russian company issued an official disclaimer. The version that Capital weekly put together from its own sources is quite different from the FT's. In short, there is a sale procedure and it is indeed at an advanced stage, but in fact not only the refinery is being sold, but the entire business of the Russian group in the country. Binding offers are expected by the end of November, so at this stage no one has been chosen and the final decision on whether a deal will go through is likely to be early next year, with finalization also taking more time to get regulatory approval.
