Warburg Pincus to Invest up to $600m in Zenith Energy

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC said on Monday it had agreed to invest up to $600 million in equity in Zenith Energy, a developer and operator of terminals that store and distribute petroleum, natural gas liquids and petrochemicals.

The deal is a bet on growing crude production as well as on Zenith Chief Executive Jeffrey Armstrong, who as a Kinder Morgan Inc executive increased that company's terminals to 122 in 2012 from 12 in 2001.

Zenith is looking to buy, build and operate terminals primarily in Latin America, Europe and Africa, and is also interested in related assets such as pipelines, truck racks and barges. The Houston-based company is currently developing a liquids terminal in Palermo, Colombia.

Warburg Pincus, a New York-based firm with more than $39 billion in assets under management, said it would be joined in the deal by minority investors that include members of Zenith's management team and other unnamed individuals.

(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Paul Simao)