JOHANNESBURG --&nbspLudoil Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ludoil Energy - the Ammaturo family's holding company - has completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in ISAB from GOI Energy, following the successful conclusion of the Italian Government's Golden Power review. At a time of international tension and heightened energy costs, the government acted to safeguard the country's foremost refining complex — the largest in the Mediterranean — affirming its strategic significance through targeted provisions and overseeing its return to Italian ownership.

Antitrust clearance and the review under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation were both concluded without remedies. Little more than four months elapsed between the announcement of the agreement, on 13 May 2026, and closing - a remarkably short span for a transaction of such exceptional complexity and a measure of the resolve with which the public authorities oversaw every stage of the process, safeguarding supplies and the energy security of Italian citizens

As of today, Ludoil assumes industrial leadership and operational control of the refinery straddling Priolo, Melilli and Syracuse. The asset is valued, in enterprise value terms, at €1 billion. Financial support, backed by a SACE guarantee, was provided by BPER and UniCredit as Global Coordinators, Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners, and by MPS as Mandated Lead Arranger. BPER also acted as Facility Agent, coordinating the transaction among the lending banks and with SACE. The joint participation of the three institutions reflects the capacity of the Italian banking system to stand behind long-term industrial investment.

The industrial plan follows two courses. The first restores the refinery's infrastructure to full efficiency, returning to service and upgrading a number of decommissioned process units, including primary distillation and hydrodesulphurisation on the northern site, solvent deasphalting and thermal cracking on the southern IGCC site. Their restart will raise processing capacity and shift yields towards distillates with lower sulphur and carbon content.

The second course is the conversion to biofuels, begun in July 2026 with co-processing at the northern site's FCC unit. A vertically integrated chain, drawing on non-edible vegetable oils, will produce biogasoline, Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, initially through existing plant and in due course through dedicated units. The plan provides for capital expenditure of approximately €1.3 billion over the next five years.

The current workforce is retained in full. Over the five-year renewal program, investment works will engage around a thousand additional people, spanning engineering, logistics and construction roles drawn from across Italy. At full operation, the refinery will require some one hundred new specialist technicians and operators; cooperation between ISAB and Sicily's higher technical education system will be decisive.

ISAB completes Ludoil's value chain, making the group Italy's largest privately held multi-energy company, with expected consolidated revenues of around €13 billion a year. The ISAB refinery is its centerpiece, receiving crude oil and organic feedstocks and converting them into fuels and biofuels. Biomethane plants and renewable power generation extend the group's reach beyond refining, while coastal storage terminals from the north to the south of the country provide storage and local presence and a nationwide network of service stations carries products through to the end consumer.

Ludoil handled the transaction entirely in-house. GOI Energy was advised by BonelliErede. At its first shareholders' meeting, ISAB appointed a new three-member board of directors. Marco Russo Spena, chairman, and Paolo Fedeli, CEO, were designated by the majority shareholder; Fabio Cadeddu, director, represents the minority shareholder.

The transaction underscores the continued strategic role of refining infrastructure in strengthening energy security while adapting existing assets to an evolving energy mix. By combining investment in conventional processing capacity with biofuels, renewable energy and integrated distribution, Ludoil’s expansion reflects a broader approach to energy development in which supply security and energy transition investments advance in parallel.