Bloomberg — Carlos Slim and his family are pocketing the profits from boosting their stake in a US oil refiner during the pandemic.
Control Empresarial de Capitales, the family’s investment vehicle, has sold about $358 million of PBF Energy Inc. (PBF) this year, halving its holding in the Parsippany, New Jersey-based company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It unloaded $90 million of shares last week, leaving the Slims with a 9.7% stake worth about $500 million.
Slim and his family spent about $60 million buying stock in PBF Energy in 2020, mostly in the aftermath of the Covid-19 virus outbreak.
The company’s shares have surged more than 600% since slumping in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic as demand for gasoline has returned and the war in Ukraine has disrupted the global supply of refined fuels. Crude this week hit a three-month high on the back of strong markets for refined fuels. First-quarter income rose 58% to $91 million from a year earlier, PBF Energy said in April.
Slim, 82, is the world’s 12th-richest person with a $76.6 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The bulk of his wealth is derived from telecommunications giant America Movil SAB de CV (AMXL). The Mexico native and his family first surfaced as PBF Energy investors in 2017 and are still some of the company’s biggest shareholders alongside BlackRock Inc.
Arturo Elias, Slim’s spokesman and son-in-law, declined to comment on the share sales. He previously described the stock purchases as “purely an investment” separate from the family’s main businesses.
A representative for PBF Energy didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Slim and his family also own a major stake in pipeline operator PBF Logistics LP. They spent about $6 million in 2020 buying stock in the company, which spun out from PBF Energy in 2014. Its shares have increased 87% since the start of last year.
Other investments include holdings in Spanish construction company FCC and Mexican infrastructure firm Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SAB. A bank they control — Grupo Financiero Inbursa SAB — is among recent bidders for Citigroup Inc.’s Mexican unit, people with knowledge of the matter have said.