India’s Aegis takes over Dubai tanker and logistics group Tristar

India’s Aegis Logistics has struck a deal to acquire 89.8% of Dubai-based Tristar for $809m, taking control of a global energy logistics group with a sizeable tanker and dry bulk shipping operation.

The Mumbai-listed group is buying the stake through Singapore-based Aegis Logistics International from shareholders including Agility, Gulf Investment Corporation and Diamond Holdings. The transaction remains subject to competition and other regulatory approvals and is targeted to close by the end of March 2027.

Tristar has been valued at $1.5bn on an enterprise basis and $882m on an equity basis, equivalent to around six times its 2025 EBITDA. The group generated about $1.4bn in revenue and $257m of EBITDA last year and operates across more than 30 countries.

The deal caps a transformation that began with just three trucks. Tristar was founded in the UAE in 1998 by Eugene Mayne, with Agility buying into the business in 2003 for around $7m. By 2004, it was still essentially a domestic road transport operator generating about $13.5m in revenue.

Shipping entered the picture soon afterwards. Agility identifies 2004 as Tristar’s entry into maritime logistics, but the decisive move into shipowning came more than a decade later.

In 2016, Tristar paid $90m for Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Ship Investment Company, or Eships, from Germany’s Oldendorff Group. The transaction brought seven ocean-going chemical tankers, including two LPG carriers, into the group along with an established maritime management operation.

At the same time, Tristar was taking delivery of six new 50,000 dwt MR product tankers from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea in a programme worth about $200m. The combination of Eships, the MR newbuildings and Tristar’s existing coastal fleet pushed its owned shipping operation above 20 vessels.

By early 2017, after consolidating the Tristar and Eships shipping teams in Dubai, the company described shipowning as a core part of the business and counted 22 ships in its fleet.

The fleet has continued to grow. Agility said Tristar had 26 ocean-going and coastal vessels at the end of 2025, alongside more than 1,000 trucks, 14 fuel farms and over 60 remote fuel sites. Its Eships arm today owns and operates a mixed fleet of chemical, oil and gas tankers and bulk carriers trading globally, with much of the tonnage fixed to major energy companies on long-term contracts.

The fleet is also set to grow. Tristar disclosed last year that it had agreed to build and operate four MR product tankers under Project Griffin, with the first scheduled to enter service in 2028. The ships are expected to add between 32 and 52 years of combined contract coverage, while Shell Tankers remains the company’s largest maritime customer.

Agility, which owns 65.12% of Tristar, expects to receive up to $581m from selling its holding, comprising $425m at closing, $110m one year later and an earn-out of up to $46m.

The acquisition marks a sizeable international expansion for Aegis, whose existing operations are centred on LPG and bulk-liquid storage, distribution and terminal infrastructure in India.

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