| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | commodities trading |
| Founded | 1901 |
| Headquarters | Westport, CT |
| Key people | Andrew J. Hall |
| Website | www.phibro.com |
Phibro LLC is an international commodities trading firm and a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy). Phibro trades in crude oil, oil products, natural gas, precious and base metals, agricultural products, commodity-related equities and other products. Phibro’s headquarters are located in Westport, Connecticut, with additional offices in London, Ireland and Singapore.[1]
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The company was founded in 1901[2][3][4] as Philipp Brothers.[5] It was later acquired and became the Philipp Brothers Division of Engelhard Minerals & Chemicals Corporation. In 1981, the company was spun off as Phibro Corporation, and that same year the company subsequently acquired Salomon Brothers, creating Phibro-Salomon Inc.[6] Phibro Energy, Inc. was established in 1984, absorbing the oil department of Philipp Brothers. In 1986, the combined company removed the Phibro name from the parent company.[7] In 1993, Phibro Energy, Inc. became the Phibro Energy Division of Salomon Inc.[8] It was renamed to simply "Phibro" in 1996, and in 1997, Salomon was acquired by Travelers Group, which merged with Citicorp to form Citigroup in 1998.[7] With the merger, Salomon became an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup.
Phibro came to the notice of the public when its leader, Andrew J. Hall reportedly was seeking a $100 million bonus from Citigroup, which had been bailed out by US taxpayers in 2009. Reportedly Phibro was the main source of the $2 billion in pretax revenue Citigroup received in commodities trading.[9]
In October 2009, Occidental Petroleum announced it would acquire Phibro from Citigroup, estimating its net investment at approximately $250 million.[10] Phibro is now part of Oxy's "Midstream, Marketing and Other segment", which includes Oxy’s gas plant, pipelines, marketing and trading and power generation operations.[11] Hall continues to run Phibro and also heads Astenbeck Capital Management, of which 80% is owned by Hall and 20% by Occidental.[12]