It was done a long time ago. Together, they are worth over a trillion dollars in annual revenue and control more than half the world's freely traded commodities. Among their campaigns is one to end the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys mandate for regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Many of the biggest players in oil and metals trading trace their roots back to notorious trader Marc Rich, whose triumph in the 1960s and 70s was to create a spot market for oil, wresting business away from the majors. See Marco Dunand's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. Outside the commodities business, many of these quiet giants who broker the worlds basic goods are little known. But theres little room for maneuver: the majority stake she inherited is locked up in a trust her husband set up to last for 99 years. Trafigura took legal action to keep a report about the Ivory Coast incident out of newspapers, but details were eventually made public. Thats what Koch, Vitol and others did in 2009 when they parked 100 million barrels of oil in seaborne tankers. Glencores flotation has sparked speculation about a possible Vitol initial public offering and what it would be worth. It is also the largest producer of consumer pack edible oils with about 45 percent market share. Big trading firms now own a growing number of the mines that produce many of our commodities, the ships and pipelines that carry them, and the warehouses, silos and ports where they are stored. With a personal fortune estimated by Forbes at $10.7 billion, the 67-year-old was Norways richest man until he abandoned his citizenship in 2006 to become a national of Cyprus, where tax rates are lower. Trading houses saw the opportunity to leverage metals warehousing after the 2008 financial crisis. By and large they move as a team, says one retired wheat trader who did business with Cargill for decades. By annual revenue Vitol is richer than Glencore but the numbers arent directly comparable -- Glencore owns more hard assets which, typically, are far more profitable than trade turnover. Their friendship was galvanized a few years later working for grain trader Cargill Inc. and sharing an apartment while on a training course in Minneapolis. The business has grown to 890 employees in 28 countries with a turnover at $75 billion, trading almost 120 million tonnes of oil, coal and gas. [1] The firm was founded in 2004 by two former Wall Street oil traders, Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi. It doesnt look likely anytime soon. Having said that, we have also been approached by potential investors -- sovereign funds and others -- who wish to make a private-equity type of investment in our company.. In the two years since Margarita Louis-Dreyfus inherited control of the worlds top cotton and rice trader following the death of her husband Robert, the woman the French press call the tsarina has been at the center of one of the most intriguing struggles in corporate Europe. In addition to proprietary trading curbs, the U.S. regulator voted on October 19 to impose position limits in oil and metals markets. His 28-year-old twins Kathrine and Cecilie play a growing role in his sprawling business empire, according to press reports. The winner? That gives banks who trade futures cause for concern, but since physical players usually receive exemptions to limits -- because they are categorized as bona fide hedgers -- trading firms should go unscathed. He spent time trading metal in Hong Kong before moving to New York and a stint at commodities trading giant Phibro. He talked about how we are moving into action and investing in. While pursuing Robert Louis-Dreyfus passion for the club, which drained millions from his fortune, she has placed strict conditions on new investment. Its early dealings with the Libyan rebels may offer the chance of a foothold in Libyas oil and gas territory. The CEO sometimes flies to speaking engagements with no entourage. [3] The company is one of the world's five largest independent energy traders and asset operators and is based in Geneva, Switzerland, with 37 additional offices worldwide. Lim Oon Kuin arrived in Singapore from China over 50 years ago, and started to deliver diesel by bicycle to boatmen. Premium access for businesses and educational institutions. He has made a fortune. Its one of the largest physical suppliers of metals including zinc, lead and nickel, and a leading grain exporter from Europe, the former Soviet Union and Australia. The futures market may take some of that information and run with it. That took the headcount to 1,200 from about 10 in 2004. Marco Dunand, who has helped build Mercuria into one of the world's biggest independent energy traders, said the crash in US crude prices into negative territory in April served as a wake-up. Theres a great deal of trust between them.. [6] The company focused mostly on oil trading until 2007. The trading houses talent and deep pockets translate into incredible power. Vitols early running gave the firm an edge with the countrys new political stewards. In a settlement, Trafigura agreed to pay a $5 million fine, but wasnt charged with smuggling and denied wrongdoing. Investors say he might already have his sights set on Brazil, to strengthen his position in the global sugar market. We have a daily sales report from every corner where we operate and if we see sales slowing over a few weeks, we get to know the changing trend before others, one employee said, on condition of anonymity. They point to very competitive pricing offered by Gunvor when it comes to Russian oil tenders. When out-of-town employees visit, he has taken them to dinner at seafood chain Red Lobster, a former Koch employee said. The material was dumped in open-air sites around Abidjan in August 2006 after being unloaded from a Trafigura-chartered tanker. With around $100 billion in sales, Koch Industries is a heavyweight among U.S. oil trading firms, and one of the most secretive U.S. corporations. U.S. and European regulators are cracking down on big banks and hedge funds that speculate in raw goods, but trading firms remain largely untouched. Join the conversation. Enuit is an Award-winning provider of ETRM / CTRM solutions worldwide. Critics, including the Russian opposition, put it simply -- Russias paramount leader helped businessman Gennady Timchenko create the Gunvor oil trading empire, which saw a spectacular rise in the past decade when Putin was president and then prime minister. Nigerias Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) said that in one transaction the amount of fuel submitted for subsidies did not match the actual quantity delivered. They left Cargill in 1987 for Goldman Sachss J. Aron unit in London. Mercurias corporate strategy and culture have reflected the professional paths of its founders, who spent the bulk of their early careers at investment banks. 2022 welcome statement Marco Dunand, Mercuria's CEO, introduces the 2022 CSR report. newsletter, Energy Source. Together, Glencore employees, including many of its top traders, own just under 80 percent of the company. Arcadia has faced controversy before. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many users needs. Mercuria, named for the Roman god of trade, is targeting a JPMorgan business that includes energy trading and storage assets in North America, where a boom in shale oil and natural gas has transformed the flow of commodities worldwide. If you have any issue with this post please contact us, News > Commodity Trading > Behind the $100 Billion Commodity Empire That Few Know, CTRM Center Louis Dreyfus is a well-honed global operator, marketing agricultural commodities from wheat to orange juice. When in Wichita, he often dines in the Koch cafeteria. I would love for them to be listed on the stock market, said Gertjan van der Geer, who manages an agriculture fund for Swiss bank Pictet. But there was one lesson that Rich must have cut short: how to avoid jail. They have some superstars but mostly a lot of team players -- what I would describe as well grounded, fundamental traders.. Which may be why Mabanaft wants to expand beyond its northern European heartland. JPMorgans Canadian and U.S. operations will prove most valuable to Mercuria, according to Dawe. It announced in early October that it may float its storage subsidiary Puma Energy within 18 months. Sometimes you get it wrong, but you have to accept it, he said. The company, which went public 10 years ago, realized early that rising incomes in Asia could be fed by Brazil and Argentina, two of the last remaining countries with new farmland left for crop cultivation. In two decades of oil trading, Dunand and Jaeggi built fearsome reputations for seeing profit margins where others could only see potential losses. A small Minnesota linseed crushing business more than a century ago, the firm is now is so big its financial performance is often viewed as a barometer of agribusiness as a whole. Trading houses competed with banks for the spoils -- Glencore, Trafigura and Noble took one warehousing company each, Goldman and JP Morgan the others. The China connection continues. Thats still a lot less than the billions the biggest independent oil traders make and a long way off the revenue of Marquard & Bahls oil tanking division, the second largest in the world after Vopak. As the company expanded, it has hired traders and investment professionals from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Louis Dreyfus Group[16] and Electrabel in London. Vitol, the largest independent oil trader, handled 261 million and Trafigura traded 102.8 million tons of oil and petroleum products. [14], Mercuria is active players in energy and renewable markets through investments in the energy transition, with a particular focus on the United States and Europe. Last year he surprised the market when he trumped Chinas Bright Food in a $1.5 billion deal to buy Australias Sucrogen. We use Dunand, chairman and chief executive, and Jaeggi, head of global trading, used Mercuria to expand their trading base from crude and oil products. tracking emerging trends and opportunities in the future of energy. The sources said net income was $273m and Mercuria's net asset value climbed to $2.94bn from $2.6bn in 2013 People familiar with the results said Mercuria would have posted record pre-tax. The French trading giant approached Olam with a merger proposal in 2010, but talks failed earlier this year. What matters is that the group and its name survive, she said. We went to the Ivory Coast on a mission to help the people of Abidjan, and to find ourselves arrested and in jail as a result has been a terrible ordeal for ourselves and our families, said Dauphin. Mercuria, the former owner of Vesta Terminal, entered into a joint venture with Sinopec by selling 50% of the terminals in 2013. Wilmar is now the biggest soy player in China with a 20 percent market share, measured in processing capacity. I have known the citizen Timchenko for a very long time, since my work in St Petersburg, Putin told a group of Russian writers. [8][9] They and their affiliates joined as founders of Mercuria, and they remain as shareholders today. In a move borrowed from the playbooks of western rivals, state-run oil firm PetroChina has set up a Houston oil trading desk and leased massive oil storage tanks in the Caribbean. Global Advisors Newton said Dunand and Jaeggis ability to react to shifting markets means Mercuria will probably thrive in an unpredictable industry littered with failures. It has also dipped a toe in the upstream business. In a 2009 State Department cable from Yemen, obtained by WikiLeaks and provided by a third party to Reuters, sources told U.S. diplomats that the company used intimidation tactics including kidnapping threats to buy Yemeni crude at below market prices. Publications A collection of deliverables from ComTech Advisory including Research reports, White Papers, Analyst Notes and other informative articles all available for free download. In 2006 Kuok, now 62, orchestrated a $4.3 billion merger which consolidated his uncles palm oil assets into Wilmar, making it the worlds largest listed palm oil firm. Brent crude rose 3.5 percent that year in a fourth annual advance. While Rich himself fled to Europe in the 1980s to escape possible imprisonment for tax evasion in the United States, Dauphin spent almost six months behind bars in Ivory Coast in 2006-7 in pre-trial detention involving a dispute over toxic waste dumping. The companys deal with Libyas rebels was a gamble. Mercuria's Marco Dunand talked to S&P Global Platts about the challenges, implications, and opportunities that the coronavirus pandemic presents across all the key commodity classes in a time of unprecedented volatility in the global markets. We dont see the need to raise money from the market, Dunand said. After entering exclusive talks last month to buy JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)s $3.3 billion commodities unit, Dunand and Jaeggi will probably announce a deal within the next week, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Rich, now 76, would later end up on the FBIs most-wanted list for alleged tax evasion and trading oil from Iran after the revolution in 1979. Trafigura was also quick to recognize the potential of storage in the industrial metals markets. ADM was fined $100 million by the U.S. government for antitrust violations. Journalists in 50+ countries follow the constant flow of money made and lost in oil & gas while Scale is going to be more important than ever.. Glencore has long made its fortune by working on the fringes and in areas where few others dared. Cargill and Louis Dreyfus are the large missing players in the commodity trading space.. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-07/behind-the-100-billion-commodity-empire-that-few-know.html, Disclaimer: This was news article was published by another website and was republished on the CTRM Center due to its informative merit and relative nature. The Kochs have denied funding the Tea Party, but their empires far-reaching tentacles in the political arena have spawned a nickname: the Kochtopus. Together with Glencore, it pre-qualified to bid for exploration rights in Iraq in a licensing round next year that that could add the Iraqi upstream to its offshore West Africa operations. It became the first company to supply gasoline to the energy ministry after the war in 2003, and now is both a buyer of Iraqi crude and supplier of refined products. At times Cargills power has got it into trouble. Mercuria Energy Trading has a total of 1001 employees. JPMorgans power-generating assets, which include stakes in three U.S. plants, wont be included in a sale to Mercuria, according to three people close to the talks. Founded in 1818 in Amsterdam, the company is the worlds No.1 oilseed processor. MARCO DUNAND, CEO OF MERCURIA ENERGY TRADING. That experience defined the trading strategies of Dunand and Jaeggi who moved from Phibro to start Sempras European and Asian trading business in 1999 before founding Mercuria in 2004. Hes well on the way. A master of physical markets, it owns a 4,000-mile U.S. pipeline network and three of the countrys most profitable refineries. https://buff.ly . The three top executives at Mercuria have increased their holding in the Swiss-based commodity trader since the start of the year, according to a filing with US regulators. The firms now controlled by the western-backed rebels might still legally be linked to Libyas national oil corporation. In less than a decade, Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi have turned a 10-person company supplying oil to a pair of Polish refineries into the world's fourth-largest commodity trader with revenue topping $100 billion last year. In 2014, Mercuria bought part of JPMorgan's physical commodities trading business for a reported US$3.5 billion. The Koch brothers, Chairman and CEO Charles and co-owner David Koch, are high-profile supporters of libertarian and anti-regulation U.S. politics. Despite a concerted campaign in recent years to put forth a friendlier face and personality through advertising and more appearances by its executives in public forums, Cargill is bound together by a culture of confidentiality, aggressiveness -- and winning. . If you dont offer competitive terms, no one will work with you, he told a Russian daily this month. We support credit card, debit card and PayPal payments. Koch eventually pleaded guilty in 2001 to a felony charge related to its reporting of the benzene emissions. While its savvy traders were doing deals in eastern Libya, Vitol, along with rival Trafigura, kept refined product supplies flowing to the besieged government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria as his troops attacked civilians. A fiercely libertarian ideology and ultra-competitive engineering prowess live on at Koch Industries spartan headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, a former Koch executive told Reuters. ENERGY TURNOVER: $75 billion 2011 company estimate (2010, $47 billion). WHO: Trafigura, founded 1993 by former Marc Rich traders Claude Dauphin, Eric de Turkheim and Graham Sharp. Price premiums for immediate supply spiked, sapping margins for refiners worldwide. In metals, stock in warehouses can be tied up for years as loan collateral, allowing the same traders who dominate the metals market to control a huge chunk of world supply -- an apparent conflict of interest that has drawn criticism from the UK parliament. How big are the biggest trading houses? We havent seen this pace of population growth in our living memory, Verghese told a conference in Singapore late last year. Dunand says he and Jaeggi have no intention of selling the company they have built so swiftly, or launching an initial public share offering (IPO). That is as far as it goes -- yet time and again, the media wrongly jump to the conclusion that the judo club connection means that Mr Putin and I are close, then leap into conspiracy-theory mode.. Mabanafts profile is low even by the secretive standards of other independent oil traders. [3] See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Premium Digital includes access to our premier business column, Lex, as well as 15 curated newsletters covering key business themes with original, in-depth reporting. Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Marco Dunand, co-founder and President Daniel Jaeggi and Mercuria's global head of trading Magid Shenouda control the stake through a Guernsey-registered company called MDJ Oil Trading Ltd. ChemChina Stake Cargill, as well as fellow U.S. commodity trading firms Bunge and ADM, agreed to undertake a public relations effort with the goal of creating a political problem for the Government of Ukraine, according to a 2007 diplomatic cable by the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine that was obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to Reuters by a third party.
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