Gunvor Founder Törnqvist Got Over $1 Billion Upfront in Buyout

Gunvor Group’s outgoing owner Torbjörn Törnqvist received over $1 billion in upfront payments as part of a hasty sale of his company to its management, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.

The commodity trader rushed to separate itself last year from its co-founder after the US Treasury described the company as “the Kremlin’s puppet.” Financial details of the management buyout were not disclosed when it was announced in December, with Gunvor saying only that it would be funded in part by a vendor loan from Törnqvist. The company appointed then-head of Americas Gary Pedersen as its new CEO.