Gunvor Management Buyout Values Trading Group at Around $5 Billion, Sources Say

According to two sources, and a calculation made based on the financing of the deal via a loan given to employees, a management buyout has valued Gunvor at around $5 billion.

Two sources familiar with the deal said that Gunvor's founder Torbjorn Tornqvist provided a loan to employees of more than 4 billion dollars for the buyout.

According to the calculations of the two sources, the loan values Gunvor at $5 billion based on Tornqvist’s 86% stake.

The financing of this deal provides a rare glimpse into the value of a privately owned commodity trading company.

Prior to this, the size of the loan as well as its terms of repayment had not been reported.

Gunvor, as well as a Tornqvist representative, declined to comment.

Two sources claim that Gunvor employees, under the leadership of CEO Gary Pedersen will repay the vendor's loan in 10 years by distributing annual dividends. One of the sources stated that repayment can be extended past?10 years.

Tornqvist has agreed to sell his 86% share in Gunvor and step down in December. This comes after the U.S. Treasury had blocked his bid to purchase assets from Russia's Lukoil.

Trading houses are rarely on the market, and they usually change hands when younger managers buy out older executives. The process can take many years, and the valuation or price is usually not disclosed.

Employee-owned partnerships are not exclusive to commodity trading companies like Vitol or Trafigura. Goldman Sachs and other major investment banks were founded as partnerships. Goldman Sachs became public in 1999. The mining group Glencore was also a partnership prior to its 2011 listing.

Some of the biggest commodity traders in the world, such as Vitol or Mercuria do not disclose their equity values.

Trafigura's annual report for 2025 showed that?shareholder equity was $16.2 billion. Gunvor's equity was last reported in 2024, when it was reported as?$6.5 billion.

Gunvor's purchase price of $5 billion, which is less than 2024, is because Tornqvist excluded certain assets, such as those related to his "sailing hobbies" and the funding of a sailing team.

In recent years, trading companies have acquired physical assets, like oil refineries. However, their main assets are their employees, making it difficult to value the business. A trading company's staff can also be fluid, as traders may move to other companies if they are offered more money.

Gunvor will have traded 230 million tonnes of fuels and oil in 2024. This is less than half of the volume of Vitol, the world's largest trader. Dmitry Zhdannikov reported the story. (Editing by Jane Merriman.

(source: Reuters)