Gunvor Group CEO Torbjörn Törnqvist will sell his stake in the firm to the company’s management and step down, the Swiss commodities trader announced in a statement on its website earlier today. The move follows the U.S. Treasury’s decision in late October to block Gunvor’s attempt to acquire $22 billion worth of international assets belonging to the Russian oil major Lukoil, which was recently hit by U.S. sanctions. The Treasury described Gunvor as a “Kremlin puppet.”
According to the Financial Times, the 72-year-old Swedish national will “sell his 86 per cent stake in Gunvor to a group of 60 senior employees and provide a 10-year loan to help finance their purchase.”
The company’s statement added that “misperceptions about its past” had become an “impossible distraction,” while Törnqvist’s departure will bring about a “definitive reset.”
Gunvor, which employs about 2,000 people and has an equity value of $6.6 billion, is one of the world’s largest energy traders, reporting $136 billion in revenue last year.
Gary Pedersen, who joined the company last year to head its Americas division, will lead the buyout and take over as chief executive.
Gunvor said the proposal for employees to buy the company’s shares was first floated in 2022. The company stressed it will continue to have “no outside ownership or interests.”
“A generational shift has well been underway, and we have the financial strength, liquidity, and depth of leadership to continue to advance our global growth strategy. Our goal is to uphold our leading role as a reliable and competitive participant in the global energy markets — today and well into the future,” Pedersen said.
Gunvor had been considered one of the top contenders to buy Lukoil’s foreign assets after the Russian oil major — along with state-owned Rosneft — was hit with U.S. sanctions. Gunvor was founded in 2000 by Russian billionaire and Putin ally Gennady Timchenko together with Törnqvist. Timchenko sold his stake to his partner in 2014 following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
In early November 2025, the U.S. Treasury blocked Gunvor’s potential acquisition of Lukoil’s foreign assets, calling the Swiss firm a “Kremlin puppet.”
Reporting by Reuters has indicated that Gunvor is in active talks to invest in oil and gas assets in the United States. The discussions began before the attempted Lukoil purchase but are now viewed as a way to improve ties with the Trump administration after that deal collapsed.