Carlyle acquires 37% of Spain’s Cepsa, appoints CEO

US private equity fund The Carlyle Group has completed the acquisition of 37% of Cepsa, appointing Phillippe Boisseau as CEO of the Spanish energy and petrochemicals major.

The transaction was announced in April. Cepsa was previously 100%-owned by Abu Dhabi’s investment fund Mubadala.

While financial details were not disclosed, at the time of the announcement energy analysts had valued Cepsa at around $12bn.

Boisseau, whose appointment is effective immediately, succeeds Pedro Miro, who plans to retire.

Boisseau is a French national and occupied executive positions at energy and petrochemicals major Total.

At its board meeting on Thursday, the company also announced four other appointments coming from Carlyle: Marcel van Poecke, Bob Maguire, and Joost Droge.

Marwan Nijmeh was appointed as board member, coming from Mubadala.

The acquisition by Carlyle comes after Cepsa cancelled a partial initial public offering (IPO) in October 2018 on the back of market turmoil at the time.

“Cepsa is an attractive, well-positioned international integrated energy player led by Pedro and his strong leadership team. We are pleased Philippe Boisseau has agreed to become CEO as he has an impressive range of skills and leadership in the international energy sector,” said Marcel van Poecke, head of Carlyle International Energy Partners and now vice-chairman of Cepsa.

Carlyle’s division Carlyle Energy Platform invests in energy, natural resources and infrastructure companies.