Mercuria, one of the world’s leading independent oil traders, has sold half of its terminals business to a subsidiary of China’s Sinopec, offering Beijing an entry point into the world of the Switzerland-based commodities trading houses.

The privately held trader yesterday said that it had formed a joint venture with Sinopec Kantons, a Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of the state-owned oil company, through the sale of 50 per cent of its Vesta Terminals businesses. Sinopec said it had paid €128.6m in cash and that the deal valued the terminals business at €442m, including debt.

The investment by Sinopec in Mercuria – the world’s fifth-largest independent oil trading house is the first by a Chinese group into the Swiss trading houses that dominate global commodities flows.