Overview

Oystercatcher is the holding company through which 3i Infrastructure held 45% interests in four subsidiaries of Oiltanking, located in Belgium, Malta and the Netherlands.

These businesses provide over three million cubic metres of oil, petroleum and other oil-related storage facilities and associated services to a broad range of clients, including private and state oil companies, refiners, petrochemical companies and traders.

Oiltanking is one of the world’s leading independent storage partners for oils, chemicals and gases, operating 41 terminals in 18 countries with a total storage capacity of 16 million cubic metres.

Follow-on investments

On 2 May 2017, Oiltanking Ghent acquired 100% of Belgotank NV, a company which owns 82,000 cubic metres of tank capacity located on the Oiltanking Ghent site. These provide a mix of small tanks which are complementary to the business’s existing tank portfolio. On 25 September 2017, Oystercatcher made a follow-on equity investment of €2.4 million into Oiltanking Ghent to part fund that acquisition.

Recent developments

Oystercatcher, in line with the broader oil storage sector, has benefitted from a contango market structure for oil-derived products during the year and overall performed ahead of our expectations. Storage rates have improved and many existing customers have been keen to renew storage contracts early. At the same time, customer activity levels have reduced due to lower end-user demand, caused by the Covid-related lockdown measures around the world, and this has negatively impacted throughput and ancillary services revenues.

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc.