Stoneshield Capital to boost Exolum stake to 20% with OMERS buyout
What's the deal? Stoneshield Capital has signed an agreement to acquire a 15% stake in Exolum, the Spanish energy logistics giant, from Canadian pension fund OMERS. The deal builds on Stoneshield's existing 4.93% stake acquired in January 2026, bringing its total holding to roughly 20%.
The remaining 10% of OMERS' approximately 25% stake is being separately acquired by an unnamed global investment firm with over $100B in assets under management. OMERS has been invested in Exolum since 2016. Terms of neither transaction were disclosed.
Exolum operates a 4,000km transmission pipeline network in Spain and a further 2,000km in the UK. It owns 68 storage terminals with more than 11 million cubic metres of capacity and serves over 48 airports globally — including Heathrow, Gatwick, Madrid, and Charles de Gaulle — making it one of the world's largest aviation fuel infrastructure platforms. The company employs more than 2,300 people and generates over €1.3B in annual revenue.
Why now? OMERS described the sale as part of its "disciplined approach to active portfolio management and capital rotation" after a decade-long investment. In December 2025, OMERS completed a €770M refinancing for Exolum, suggesting the business was being positioned for a transition in ownership.
Stoneshield, meanwhile, has moved quickly — going from initial investor in January to a board-level stakeholder in under six months. Upon completion, it will assume three of OMERS' current board seats, with the second investor taking the remaining two.
What could go wrong? The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Exolum's core business — transporting and storing fossil fuels — faces long-term structural risk as Europe pursues decarbonisation, though the company is increasingly positioning itself around the energy transition and lower-carbon fuels.
The signal: The deal reflects growing investor appetite for essential infrastructure assets with predictable cash flows, even in sectors undergoing energy transition. Stoneshield co-founders Felipe Morenés Botín and Juan Pepa called Exolum a "unique HALO infrastructure platform with irreplaceable strategic assets" and "significant growth optionality linked to the evolution of global energy systems." The fact that a pension fund is rotating out while private capital rotates in suggests a maturing asset where the next phase of value creation will come from active ownership rather than passive holding.
Read more: globenewswire.com
