Royal Vopak has reached agreement on the disposal of its 50% interest in Chemicals and Oil Storage Management (COSM), a 50/50 joint venture in the United Kingdom between Royal Vopak and the Simon Group PLC. The interest will be acquired by Siena Investments Ltd.
The disposal is subject to the offer announced Dec 19, 2002 by Siena Investments, a subsidiary of Patron Capital LPI, for the tank storage activities of Simon Group PLC becoming unconditional. This transaction is conditional upon approval by Simon Group's shareholders, which is expected in early 2003.
For Royal Vopak, completion of this transaction will lead to a profit over book value of approximately 24 million guilders ($11.7 million) and cash proceeds of about 37 million guilders ($18 million).
Contrary to its four fully owned UK terminals, Vopak has no management involvement in the joint venture COSM. This joint venture mainly consists of four terminals in the United Kingdom and Ireland with a total capacity of 682,000 cbm, handling chemicals, edible oil products, and mineral oil products.