CEE Equity Partners, one of the largest private equity managers in the Central and Eastern Europe region, has set eyes on the largest independent business on the Romanian fuel market and is negotiating the takeover of Oscar Downstream, according to market sources quoted by Mirsanu.ro. Oscar officials have denied the information. At the same time, CEE Equity Partners representatives made no comment on the subject of a possible Oscar deal.

The fund, mostly owned by the Chinese state, is in the process of seeking to structure its investment portfolio in Romania after scrutinizing for more than four years’ opportunities in areas such as energy, telecoms and infrastructure, and in January 2019 put its foot on the local market by taking over the majority stake in the public lighting company Flash Lighting Services.

Oscar Downstream, a company with a turnover of about 2.05 billion Lei (EUR 445 million, over USD 500 million calculated at the average annual exchange rate) in 2017, has been in the past on the radar of investors, without closing a transaction.