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Leading independent oil trader Vitol S.A. is to acquire a 15 percent stake in Pakistan's Hascol Petroleum Ltd, Hascol has confirmed.

In a filing to the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), Hascol secretary Zeeshan ul Haq said: "We would like to inform that a term sheet has been signed by Vitol Dubai Limited with the major shareholders of Hascol Petroleum Limited (Hascol) to buy 15 percent of the issued share capital of Hascol."

The agreement is reported to also include an option for Vitol to buy an additional 10 percent stake in Hascol within a 12-month period.

The deal price was not disclosed in the filing.

The news comes three weeks after the same company representative, Zeeshan ul Haq, said in a filing that both companies were "exploring a possible transaction which could involve an investment by Vitol in the shares of Hascol and also a supply-rights arrangement."

"It will be a game changer for Hascol to have Vitol as a shareholder," Mumtaz Khan, the chairman and chief executive officer of Hascol, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg in an email last month. "It should help us to import products at more competitive prices."

Hascol Petroleum was established in 2001 and was granted a full marketing license by the Pakistan government in 2005. The company is engaged in the purchase, storage and sale of petroleum products such as fuel oil, lubricants, gasoline, Jet A-1, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and high speed diesel.

Hascol also has a bunkering division which supplies fuel oil, marine gas oil (MGO) and marine lubricants to clients at the ports of Karachi and Port Qasim.

The company listed on the KSE in 2014 and shares were yesterday (November 11) valued at PKR 160.64 with a 52-week range of PKR 71.27 - 164.55. The market value of Hascol Petroleum is currently around $190 million, which means that Vitol's 15 percent stake is worth approximately $28.5 million.

The confirmation of a signed agreement between Vitol and Hascol comes in the same week that Vitol and VTTI B.V. announced that Vitol Investment Partnership (VIP), an investment vehicle sponsored and managed by Vitol, had completed its acquisition of MISC Berhad's 50 percent shareholding in VTTI BV for a cash consideration of $830 million. Vitol already owned 50 percent of VTTI BV.