Trafigura raises $500m from sale of 10% Puma stake Trafigura, one of the world's largest commodities trading houses, has raised $500m from the sale of a 10 per cent stake in Puma Energy in a deal that makes a stock market flotation of its fast-growing petrol station and oil terminal unit less likely. The company, which is looking to expand beyond pure trading, has previously said it would consider spinning off Puma to fund growth and expansion. However, Sonangol, the state-owned oil company of Angola, has increased its holding in Puma from 20 per cent to 30 per cent after making a further investment in the fuel and storage business, which employs close to 6,000 people around the world. Details of the deal, which places a value of almost $5bn on Puma, are contained in the prospectus to a €500m bond issue . The documents also reveal a sharp drop in profits as Trafigura battles tough trading conditions. They also show that the traditionally publicity-shy trading house is looking to expand in the liquefied natural gas sector and the former Soviet Union. In an interview with the Financial Times, Christophe Salmon, Trafigura's chief financial officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said a stock market flotation was not the "preferred option for Puma" because it brings "constraints" and management disruption. We prefer the private model as it allows management to focus on business execution and growth rather than investor communication. Puma Energy is well funded by its existing shareholders and has no immediate needs to go to the public markets. As we have stated previously, an IPO could be one of various options at some point in the future. He said that Trafigura, which now holds 49 per cent of Puma, wanted to remain the leading shareholder and did not envisage a further dilution of its stake. Cochan, a diversified Angolan business group, holds 15 per cent of Puma and a group of related-party investors holds the rest. In the nine months to June, Trafigura recorded net profits after tax of $606.8m, down from $903.2m in the same period a year earlier, the prospectus shows. Revenues were $99.1bn, up from $92.9bn. Trafigura, which is owned by its employees, is the world's second-largest independent metals trader after Glencore Xstrata, and the third-largest oil trader behind Vitol and Glencore. The trading house made profits of $991.9m in the year to September 2012 and a record $1.11bn in 2011. Mr Salmon said the decline in group profits in the nine months to June reflected increased investment and a "less attractive trading environment." The figures highlight the tough conditions facing trading houses in their core businesses, where a lack of volatility has led to reduced money-making opportunities. As a result, Trafigura and its rivals are moving from their traditional "middleman" business of buying and raw materials, where margins and are razor-thin, to investing in production, refining and logistics. However, these businesses require long-term capital that trading houses have traditionally not required.