NZ tank farm operator bought by Norwegians

Auckland-based trans-Tasman bulk liquid storage company Marstel Holdings is being bought by a Norwegian company Stolt-Nielsen, listed on the Oslo stock exchange.

Marstel Terminals’ New Zealand founders Graham and Anne Catley will retain a 30 percent stake ownership and continue as executive managers.

Australian mid-market private equity firm Propel Investments has agreed to sell its 45 percent stake in the company to the Norwegian company, which is listed on the Oslo stock exchange and is a global provider of integrated transportation and storage solutions for chemicals and other bulk liquids.

The acquisition is subject to government approvals.

"We are pleased to be adding these terminals to the company's global storage and distribution network, complementing our regional tanker operations in Asia Pacific," said the norwegian company's chief executive, Niels G Stolt-Nielsen.

Mr Catley said in a statement that he was he is looking forward to working with people who understood the bulk liquid storage business.

The shareholders intend to grow the business by making the most of opportunities at existing terminals and by developing new sites on both sides of the Tasman.

The Catley's began Marstel Terminals in New Zealand and made it a leading operator in the bulk liquids market, inporting caustic soda, phenol to make glues and resins, sulphuric and nitric acids, vegetable oils, petrol, diesel, bio-diesel and other renewable fuels, and exporting tallow.

Its services include the storage of bulk and packaged hazardous and non-hazardous products, drum filling and contract blending.

Marstel Terminals operates at nine sites: Coode Island and Altona (Melbourne), Port Alma (Queensland), Bell Bay (Tasmania), and at Wynyard Wharf, Freeman’s Bay and Gabador Place (Auckland), Mount Maunganui and Bluff. It used to operate out of Auckland's Viaduct Harbour tank farm, but in 2006 announced a move to Mount Maunganui wharves.

Stolthaven Terminals operates a global network of eight bulk liquid storage terminals in key markets worldwide, with a combined total storage capacity of 2.9 million cbm. A ninth terminal is currently under construction in Singapore.

Three of Stolt-Nielsen’s business divisions – Stolt Tankers, Stolthaven Terminals and Stolt Tank Containers – provide integrated transportation and storage solutions for bulk liquid chemicals, edible oils, acids and other specialty liquids. It has tankers and tank farms in Australia.

It also runs marine farms producing turbot, sole, sturgeon, and caviar, a transport company for liquefied petroleum gas with a fleet of "very large gas carriers" (VLGCs).