Shell Lubricants to acquire UK-based MIDEL and MIVOLT, strengthening its product portfolio for power and renewables sectors

10 Oct 2023

Shell U.K. Limited has signed an agreement to purchase MIDEL and MIVOLT, two lines of business currently owned by Manchester-based M&I Materials Ltd.

Boosting Shell’s global lubricants portfolio, the acquisition of MIDEL’s premium product range will enable Shell to complement its differentiated position in Transformer Oils used for power distribution, offshore wind parks, utility companies and traction power systems. By adding synthetic and natural ester-based transformer fluids and services to its portfolio, Shell Lubricants aims to deliver improved fire protection and biodegradability to its customers.

Meanwhile, MIVOLT’s ester-based immersion cooling fluids will support the development of thermally efficient electric vehicle batteries, battery energy storage systems and data centres.

Shell’s Executive Vice President for Global Lubricants, Jason Wong said: “The addition of the MIDEL and MIVOLT premium product ranges to our portfolio acknowledges the growing ester fluid market and will help Shell Lubricants meet customer needs in the renewables and power sectors. Most importantly, we expect the outstanding technical knowledge and application expertise of their people will add huge value to Shell Lubricants.”

M&I Materials Ltd Chairman, Colin Salt said: “Ester fluid manufacturing has been a huge part of M&I Materials Ltd for over 45 years and a source of pride for everyone involved in developing this technology which customers in many markets worldwide have come to specify and trust. We want to see the growth potential for both MIDEL and MIVOLT realised and we believe Shell is uniquely positioned to take them forward and on to their next stage of development.”

When completed, this acquisition will support Shell Lubricants’ purpose ‘to keep the world progressing today for tomorrow’ by providing world-class fluids and services, as well as e-fluids and e-greases to protect and enhance performance. By bringing higher grade products to customers in the renewable energy and power sectors, this acquisition supports Shell’s Powering Progress strategy, to work with its customers and across sectors to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions.

For the purposes of this acquisition, M&I Materials Ltd will carve out its MIDEL and MIVOLT businesses into M&I Materials Development Ltd, which Shell will acquire in full. Subject to regulatory approvals and deal completion, which is expected fourth quarter of 2023, M&I Materials Development Ltd will subsequently be fully owned and operated by Shell. M&I Materials Ltd will continue to operate its other business lines.

Notes to editors

The term “Shell Lubricants” collectively refers to Shell Group companies engaged in the lubricants business. Shell sells a wide variety of lubricants to meet customer needs across a range of applications in over 100 countries. In 2022, Shell was named the leading global supplier of finished lubricants for a 16th consecutive year, according to the 20th edition of Kline & Company’s report Global Lubricants: Market Analysis and Assessment 2021. Please visit www.shell.com/lubricants for more information.
M&I Materials Ltd is an independent British company whose roots can be traced back to 1901. Formerly part of GEC Alsthom, M&I Materials Ltd has been privately owned since a management buyout in 1993 by Colin Salt. M&I Materials Ltd portfolio of brands includes MIDEL (Transformer Fluids), MIVOLT (Dielectric Immersion Fluids), WOLFMET (Tungsten Heavy Alloys), METROSIL (Silicon Carbide overvoltage protection), APIEZON (vacuum greases, sealants and lubricants) and PERFORMANCE BIOLUBRICANTS (Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants).
MIDEL comprises a range of global leading ester transformer fluids offering environmental benefits and fire protection. Originally developed in the 1970s MIDEL is specified in infrastructure projects around the world, in particular where sustainability is a key decision criteria. MIVOLT, developed in the past decade, comprises a range of dielectric esters developed for use to thermally manage electric applications, such as in electrified transport, in batteries and in data centres.

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Shell Lubricants to acquire UK-based MIDEL and MIVOLT

Transcript

Title: Shell Lubricants to acquire UK-based MIDEL and MIVOLT
Duration: 02:24

Description: Presentation announcing acquisition of MIDEL and MIVOLT, and introduction of lubricants strategy by Jason Wong, accompanied by stock footage and voice-over

Lubricants Strategy film 03 – Acquisitions Film Transcript

[Background music plays]
Bright, inspirational music playing, melodies inspired by the Shell jingle.

[Graphics]
Shell logo on a white background

[Graphics]
As Jason starts speaking, a small banner appears in the bottom-left of the screen with his name and title: Jason Wong, EVP Global Lubricants, Shell.
As Jason mentions MIDEL and MIVOLT, the companies’ logos appear either side of him, MIDEL to his right MIVOLT to his left.

[Jason Wong]
Shell Lubricants has signed an agreement to purchase MIDEL and MIVOLT, two businesses currently owned
by Manchester-based M&I Materials Ltd.

[Video footage]
Stock footage: a wide shot of a night-time cityscape. Traffic rushes across a main road in sped-up footage, lit-up skyscrapers in the background. The shot changes to another night-time cityscape, stood next to a busy road, looking along its length as car headlights rush into the distance in sped-up footage.
Stock footage: Dawn/dusk, looking up at the Shell logo on the awning over a petrol station.
Stock footage: A man in a high-vis jacket and white hard hat faces away from the camera as he inspects electricity pylons in the distance.
Stock footage: A man and a woman wearing boiler suits and safety goggles inspect equipment. The woman has a Shell logo on her suit and is explaining something to the man.
Stock footage: A man wearing a red boiler suit and safety goggles works at a computer.
Stock footage: A shot looking up at the pylons of a power grid transformer station.

[Female voice-over]
Boosting our global lubricants portfolio, the acquisition of MIDEL's product range will enable us to complement our differentiated position in transformer oils.

[Video footage]
Stock footage: Sunset, a shot looking up at an electricity pylon, the sky in the background.
Stock footage: Sunset, a wide shot of electricity pylons standing in a field.
Stock footage: A close-up of the top of a Shell-branded offshore windmill on a sunny day.
Stock footage: A man in a high-vis jacket and white hard hat faces away from the camera as he inspects large, industrial equipment in the background.
Stock footage: Looking up at pylons carrying overhead train power lines, rushing past against a blue sky.
Stock footage: Looking down at the edge of a railway track. The view rushes past as if the camera were attached to the train.

[Female voice-over]
These will be used for power distribution, offshore wind parks, utility companies and traction power systems.

[Video footage]
Stock footage: A night-time view of an electricity pylon. CGI graphics depict red and blue lights moving along the wires.
Stock footage: A wide shot of a farm field on a sunny day.

[Female voice-over]
The range will deliver improved fire protection and biodegradability to our customers.

[Video footage]
Stock footage: A wide shot of a cityscape on a sunny day, the trees of a park in the foreground and skyscrapers in the background.
Stock footage: Various electrical boxes and panels fixed to the wall of a storage hangar.
Stock footage: The camera moves down the middle of rows of solar panels and white shipping containers.
Stock footage: The camera moves through a server room, past rows of glass-fronted cabinets containing the servers.
Stock footage: An electric car drives past a field of wind farm windmills.
Stock footage: A hand plugs an electrical vehicle charging plug into the socket on the side of a car.

[Graphics]
A CGI a circular power gauge of an electric vehicle fills up to 100%.

[Female voice-over]
And MIVOLT's ester-based immersion cooling fluids will enhance Shell's thermal fluid management offer for applications including electric vehicles and electric chargers.

[Video footage]
Voxpop of Jason Wong who stands in the middle of the frame, dressed in a suit, a neutral office setting behind him. He talks directly to camera.

[Jason Wong]
We've made this acquisition because MIDEL and MIVOLT are operational businesses.

[Video footage]
The camera cuts to a close-up of Jason.

[Jason Wong]
They can hit the ground running as part of our global business and they have strong synergies with our Unstoppable business strategy.

[Video footage]
Stock footage: A man and a woman wearing high-vis vests and hard hats look at a bank of computer screens. The woman points to one of the screens, explaining something to the man.
Stock footage: Two men wearing high-vis vests and hard hats walk across the screen, a wind farm windmill in the background. The man on the right is holding a laptop. The man on the left points somewhere off-screen, explaining or describing something.
Stock footage: wide shot, a camera pans across the pylons and buildings of an electricity generation plant.
Stock footage: two engineers wearing hard hats stand on a corrugated metal roof covered in solar panels. One of them holds a laptop while the other points off-screen, explaining or describing something.
Stock footage: an ariel shot looking down at the top of a wind farm windmill in the middle of a field.
Stock footage: sunrise/sunset, an ariel wide shot of dozens of wind farm windmills spread out across a large field.
Stock footage: sped-up footage of a large ship, docked in a port and being loaded up with shipping containers by a crane.
Stock footage: a wide ariel shot of a quarry, trucks driving up the hill.
Stock footage: a woman in a blue boiler suit and white hard hat inspects the inside of a large, circular piece of equipment.
Stock footage: an ariel shot looking down on a building site lit up at night-time
Stock footage: the roof of a red bus is seen driving past the sign outside a Shell petrol station. “Shell Recharge” is written on the sign.
Stock footage: shot of a Shell Recharge point.
Stock footage: sped-up footage of cars parked under the awning of a Shell Recharge station.
Stock footage: the camera focuses on a Shell Recharge point in the background, the handle of the plug connected to a car in the blurred foreground.

[Jason Wong]
MIDOL and MIVOLT will deliver higher grade products to customers working in the renewable energy and power sectors and beyond. They will help us grow our market share in the industrial sector and expand our presence in new growth sectors through decarbonisation offers.

[Video footage]
Voxpop of Jason Wong who stands in the middle of the frame, dressed in a suit, a neutral office setting behind him. He talks directly to camera and the camera subtly zooms in on is face as he talks. The camera suddenly cuts to a close-up.
Stock footage: a view looking down on whirring fans and winding pipes of an industrial plant.
Stock footage: a Shell lorry leaves a depot, driving past the camera.
Stock footage: a view into a machine assembling the circuit board of a computer.
Stock footage: the camera moves along a conveyor belt on a production line, mechanical arms moving over the belt.
Stock footage: a side-on view of a silver car driving along a racetrack.
Stock footage: a motorbike splashes up water as it drives through a puddle.
Stock footage: a yellow racecar drives along a racetrack.
Stock footage: sunrise/sunset, an ariel wide shot of a cliff, looking out to the ocean. A car can be seen driving along the winding road.

[Jason Wong]
They also support Shell's Powering Progress strategy to work with our customers and across sectors to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions.

[Music fades]

[Background music plays]
Upbeat rock music plays.

[Graphics]
“Shell Lubricants” against a background of stock footage: a sped-up, ariel shot looking down on a night-time view of a motorway interchange, car headlights rushing along the roads.

[Video footage]
Stock footage: sped up footage of a nighttime view over a dock next to a river, shipping containers stacked up in different bays.
Stock footage: sped-up footage of cargo being loaded into an aeroplane.
Stock footage: sped-up footage looking up; the sun is seen moving across the blue sky between two rows of glass skyscrapers.
Stock footage: A man wearing safety goggles pours liquid from a jug into an engine using a blue funnel.
Stock footage: a car drives along a straight road through an arid landscape at sunset.
Stock footage: wide shot of trucks driving along the road of a quarry. A white, CGI honeycomb pattern lights up the road.
Stock footage: an ariel shot looking down on a harvester and two tractors harvesting a crop field.
CGI footage: oil flows down the inside of a silver pipe.
CGI footage: a car chassis drives away from the camera along a road, the body of the car fading in as it gets farther away.
Stock footage: the camera moves down a row of black computer servers.
CGI footage: blue-grey molecules float over a grey-white background.
Stock footage: A man and a woman sit in front of a computer screen. The woman is holding a small model and is gesturing at it as she talks to the man.
CGI footage: an ariel shot looking down on a factory production line, arms of the machinery moving smoothly over the conveyor belt.

[Female voice-over]
Shell Lubricants aims to keep the world progressing today for tomorrow, from our trusted lubricants for road to products and solutions that industry rely on, with new fluids that the world needs in electric vehicles, data centres and life sciences, and services to make machines run better for longer.

[Video footage]
Stock footage: a man in a baseball cap handles a red, corrugated, plastic pipe.
Stock footage: gloved hands are seen attaching a large pipe to machinery.
Stock footage: a wide shot of black silos stood in an arid, mountainous landscape, a Shell Lubricants tanker parked in front of them.
Stock footage: a close-up of a pipette placing a liquid on the plate of a microscope.
Stock footage: a red motorbike drives along a road in a leafy landscape.

[Graphics]
The word “Consumer” pops up from the middle of an engine, into which a jug is pouring lubricant.
The word “Commercial” appears to be printed on the side of a lorry driving through a tunnel across the screen.
The word “Industrial” is dragged along the floor of a warehouse by a crane that sweeps from left to right in sped-up footage.

[Video footage]
Stock footage: A man and woman in a lab, wearing red boiler suits and safety visors. The man is explaining something to the woman.
Stock footage: a sped-up ariel view of cars rushing through an intersection in the middle of a city at night.

[Graphics]
The word “Reliable” pops up from between two sets of turning gears.
The word “Efficient” appears in the middle of the screen over stock footage of a warehouse piled high with boxes, a conveyor belt running through the middle.
The word “Sustainable” appears over an ariel view of thick, green woodland. A car is seen driving along a corner of road that peeks out from under the trees.

[Female voice-over]
We supply the right lubricant and fluid solutions for friction and thermal management to our consumer, commercial and industrial customers, supporting the progress of the world in a reliable, efficient and sustainable way.

[Video footage]
Stock footage: A Shell Lubricants tanker drives along a straight road in an arid landscape, mountains in the background.
Stock footage: sped-up footage of cars rushing along a motorway, past a dock filled with shipping containers, at night.
Stock footage: sped-up footage of cars rushing along a main road, past skyscrapers, at dusk/dawn.
CGI footage: a night-time view of the globe from space. As it spins, clusters of light stand out on the dark land, indicating large cities.

[Female voiceover]
Shell Lubricants: keep the world progressing.

[Music ends]

[Graphics]
Shell logo on a white background

[Background music plays]
Shell jingle plays.

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