Vayu and Glencore in deal

Irish independent natural gas supplier Vayu has sold a 27 per cent stake in the company to Swiss-based energy company Glencore.

No price was disclosed for the deal, in which Glencore has become a shareholder and exclusive gas supplier to Vayu. The partnership gives Vayu direct access to Glencore's gas-trading expertise to develop its services in the Irish market.

"This partnership positions Vayu extremely well to leverage our current market position as the leading competitor to the incumbent in the industrial and commercial sector of the Irish natural gas market," said managing director Tony Ennis.

"Glencore's portfolio will see Vayu expand its range of services and flexibility to meet the growing needs of a more sophisticated market place.

"We are all aware that gas prices are dictated by the global market. However, the structure of contracts offered by our competitors often unnecessarily tie customers into inflated price commitments. We have seen that late last year when the largest gas player in the market had to do a U-turn on proposed price increases, whilst the international market has reduced by some 43 per cent."

Established in 2003, Vayu supplies natural gas to more than 20 per cent of the industrial and commercial market sector and is the largest independent supplier of natural gas in Ireland. Sources close to Vayu said it supplies gas to CRH, Coca-Cola and Smurfit.

The company, which has annual revenues of around €40 million, was already understood to have attracted the attentions of Russian energy giant Gazprom and Irish company SWS before it announced its strategic partnership with Glencore.

The Swiss-based company is one of the world's largest suppliers of a wide range of commodities and raw materials, such as metals, minerals, oil, gas and coal, to industrial consumers. Last year Glencore merged some of its assets with the Russian aluminium company Rusal to create the new United Company Rusal. Among the assets now under its control is the Aughinish Alumina plant in Limerick.