Gunvor Finalizes Stake In Coal Producer Kolmar

GENEVA, Aug. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Gunvor Group Ltd, through a 50/50 joint venture with Volga Resources, has completed the acquisition of a stake (60%) in Kolmar Management Company LLC (Kolmar), one of the Russian Federation's leading coal producers. The deal represents Gunvor's first foray into Russian coal mining, and will benefit from the company's superior knowledge of the Russian energy sector and proven commodity trading skills.

"Kolmar is focused on the development of a long-term strategy aimed at bringing the annual production volume from current 2 million tons to 10 million tons per annum," said Kolmar CEO Andrey Churin. "Development of Kolmar will help bring high quality coking coal reserves into production for export."

In addition to the 50/50 JV between Volga and Gunvor, Bixcut Holdings, controlled by Anatoly Mitroshin, possesses the remaining 40% stake.

Located in Sakha Republic of the Russian Federation, Kolmar is a coking coal mining and processing company (with reserves of more than 1 billion tons of high-quality coking coal) that operates several mines within the Chulmakan and Denisovsky coalfields within Eastern Siberia. Kolmar owns licenses for open pit and underground mining production and is developing new projects within these exploration areas.

In recent years, Gunvor has diversified its investments in a number of areas—including in upsteam, pipelines, terminals and refineries—to become a truly integrated energy trading house. Coal is key aspect of this long-term growth strategy. In 2011, Gunvor purchased a stake in Keaton Energy Holding in South Africa, and also a 33% stake in the Signal Peak coal mine, which for the first half of 2012, was the highest producing long wall mine in the United States.

Gunvor Group Ltd, one of the world's largest independent commodity trading companies by turnover, provides integrated trading products and logistics services for participants in the worldwide oil and energy markets. Based in Nicosia, Cyprus, the company's main trading offices are in Geneva and Singapore, with a network of representative offices around the globe. Follow Gunvor on Twitter: @Gunvor.