Gunvor Names Top Team, Adds More Partners After Törnqvist Exit
(Bloomberg) -- Gunvor Group has established a new management board and expanded its employee ownership following the abrupt departure of billionaire cofounder Torbjörn Törnqvist last year.
The changes, which haven’t been publicly announced, give an indication of how the oil and gas trading giant is overhauling its corporate structure after one of the most tumultuous periods in its history.
It has put together a management board that comprises Chief Executive Officer Gary Pedersen, the American oil trader who took the helm after Törnqvist quit; gas and power chief Aldo Della Valle; co-head of liquefied natural gas Kalpesh Patel; and Chief Operating Officer Gia Mai, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The move crystallizes the senior leadership setup, with all four board members previously a part of the 11-person executive committee led by Törnqvist. At the same time, the number of employees with a stake in the firm has risen by 50%, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.
Törnqvist announced his exit in December, leaving a company that had become one of the world’s largest energy traders under his stewardship. While Gunvor said his move was long-planned, it came after harsh criticism from the US of the firm’s bid to acquire assets from Russia’s Lukoil PJSC.
The US Treasury called Gunvor the “Kremlin’s puppet” — without presenting evidence — an allegation the company denied. Although the trading house then scrapped the Lukoil deal, one of its lenders — Spain’s Banco Santander SA — subsequently pulled planned financing from the firm.
At the time, Gunvor said Törnqvist would sell his 86% stake to about 60 current employees, shifting to an ownership model more akin to rivals Vitol Group and Trafigura Group. That number has now grown to more than 90, the people said.
Expanded Partnership
Shareholders in privately owned trading houses stand to reap huge windfalls during periods of market disruption, when the firms can profit from big swings in prices for raw materials. Törnqvist’s majority stake in Gunvor meant he was one of the largest individual beneficiaries from the energy-trading boom that followed Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Törnqvist gave employees a loan of more than $4 billion to purchase his stake, which valued the group at about $5 billion, Reuters reported last week.
Gunvor and representatives for Törnqvist declined to comment.
Veteran trader Pedersen ran Gunvor’s business in the Americas before taking the top job. He has said investments in the US will remain a big focus for the company, including in oil, gas and power.
The firm appears to be making efforts to improve relations with Washington following the Trump administration’s rebuke last year. A Cyprus-registered entity called Nerobreeze Ltd., which lists Pedersen and Mai as directors, appointed lobbyists Ballard Partners Inc. toward the end of 2025 “to promote investments and transparency,” filings show.
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