Gunvor to Buy Back Debt After $1.7 bln Sale Profit

Trading house Gunvor issued a tender on Tuesday to buy back $500 million in bonds after making a $1.7 billion profit from the sale of a stake in Russia's Ust-Luga oil products terminal.

The tender to buy back the bonds due for maturity in 2018 will close on Aug. 18.

The Swiss-based trader sold a 74 percent stake in the terminal last month to Russian businessman Andrei Bokarev as it seeks to reduce its exposure to Russia.

Gunvor, one of the world's top five oil trading houses, will retain a 26 percent stake in the Ust Luga terminal which has a capacity of more than 30 million metric tonnes a year.

It has been seeking to limit its exposure to Russia since former co-owner, Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko, was hit with U.S. sanctions last year.

Gunvor Chief Executive Torbjorn Tornqvist told journalists last month the firm wanted to sell the bulk of its terminals in Russia, which include the Novorossiisk fuel oil terminal on the Black Sea.

Reporting by Ron Bousso