Religions intersect at Iran's new metro station honouring Virgin Mary

Tehran (AFP) – Shiite Islam may be the official religion in Iran, but entering Tehran's brand-new Maryam Moghaddas metro station, you could be forgiven for feeling as if you're stepping inside a Christian church.

\ 24/12/2025 - RFI

At Tehran's Maryam Moghaddas metro station religious frescoes and artworks honour Christianity's Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ. © ATTA KENARE / AFP

Maryam Moghaddas in Persian translates as "Holy Mary". And the station's vaulted and arched concourse, with a dome decorated with Persian motifs, features religious frescoes and artworks honouring Christianity's Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ.

Mary is also a venerated figure in Islam. And she is depicted here in prayer with her eyes closed, a white dove hovering just above her head.

Another artwork, along the platform, depicts her son Jesus Christ, who appears to be watching over passengers as they wait for their train.

Shiite Islam is the official state religion of Iran, but the Constitution recognises Sunni Islam, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity as minority religions. © ATTA KENARE / AFP

The Virgin Mary enjoys universal respect in Iran, and she is a figure seen to be able to foster ties between believers of whatever religion.

Maryam is also one of the most common female names in the country.

"Every single element you see at this station was designed so that when someone passes through here, they understand that our goal was to respect other religions, Christianity in particular," Tina Tarigh Mehr, the artist behind the works, told AFP.

"This bird (the white dove) is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The olive tree is a symbol of peace and friendship," she said during a tour organised for the press ahead of the station's public opening at the end of November.

‘We're fighting a daily battle': Iranian women dare to shed hijab in public

Woman and 'purity'

Another artwork depicts Jesus Christ, who appears to be watching over passengers as they wait for their train. © ATTA KENARE / AFP

In Iran, a vast multicultural country, Shiite Islam is the official state religion. However, the Constitution recognises Sunni Islam, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity as minority religions, each of which has its own representatives in the Iranian parliament.

Christianity was present in this part of the world long before the rise of Islam during the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th century AD.

Why Lebanon's Christians wield power greater than their numbers

"This station recalls the divine woman who awakened the world through her purity and by nurturing a great prophet," said Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani on X.

He added that the building was designed to "showcase the coexistence of divine religions in Tehran".

The official number of Christians living in Iran is unknown, but various sources estimate it at between 130,000 and one million.

In Tehran, the Saint Sarkis Cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church is one of its most visible symbols. © ATTA KENARE / AFP

In Tehran, a metropolis of over 10 million people, the Saint Sarkis Cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church is one of its most visible symbols.

It is located near the new station, the construction of which began 10 years ago.

The first metro line in Iran opened in Tehran in 1999 and currently the Iranian capital has approximately 160 operational stations.

Several are renowned for their artistic finesse, a clever blend of modern architecture and traditional Persian elements.

(AFP)

Young West Africans held captive in Ghana in Canadian visa scams

Several families in Senegal say that a number of young people from the north of the country have been held captive in Ghana for several weeks. Lured by the prospect of work visas for Canada, they allegedly fell into the hands of a criminal network. RFI spoke to one of them.

26/12/2025 - RFI

A number of young people from Senegal and other West African countries have been lured by claims they could obtain visas for Canada. © Getty Images/iStockphoto/Manjurul

Canada's decision in 2023 to open its borders to citizens from French-speaking Africa has led to a surge in well-organised scams targeting immigrant hopefuls.

Amadou Fall fell prey to one such scheme. He says he travelled to Ghana after being contacted by a childhood friend, who is also Senegalese.

The friend promised to help him obtain a visa to travel to Canada, which involved him paying 2.5 million CFA francs (€3,811) to cover administrative costs. He managed to raise part of that sum – 1.6 million CFA francs (€2,439) – by selling his belongings.

On arriving in Ghana, he claims he was taken to a house where he met other young men from various African countries. His phone and identity papers were taken from him.

He was told to recruit candidates for Canadian visas and to make them believe he was already there.

Africa grapples with way forward on cybercrime

Media appeals

Fall describes a highly structured fraud system that exploits young people’s dreams of emigration as a way of extorting money from them.

He told RFI he eventually managed to escape by convincing his captors that he would take part in the scam. His family in Senegal sent him money so he could return home.

At least five young men, all from Kébémer in northern Senegal, are believed to have fallen into the hands of this network.

In recent days, the father of one of them has made repeated appeals to the Senegalese authorities in local media.

He has had no news of his son, Mamadou Seck, since 23 November, despite sending him 2.5 million CFA francs for the same administrative procedure to secure a visa from the Canadian authorities.

'Contemplated suicide': Ethiopians recount horror of SE Asia scam centres

Cheikh Touré case

Ghana has been identified as one of the central hubs for such emigration scams in West Africa.

Last October, Senegal was shaken when 20-year-old Senegalese footballer Cheikh Touré died in Ghana after being lured by the promise of a professional career by someone close to him.

He believed he was joining a football club, but is said to have fallen into the hands of a network of fake recruiters, who allegedly kidnapped and extorted him before killing him.

In response, Ghanaian authorities have stepped up operations in recent months to dismantle such networks.

This article was adapted from the original version in French by Juliette Dubois.

WAIT, WHAT?!

Ruble world’s best-performing currency in 2025 despite sanctions and weak oil prices

The Russian ruble was the best performing currency in the world in 2025, beaten only by gold and silver prices amongst the major traded commodiites. / bne IntelliNews

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By Ben Aris in Berlin December 26, 2025

The Russian ruble surged 44% against the dollar in 2025, becoming the world’s best performing currency, being only beaten by gold (72%) and silver (159%) prices amongst the major traded commodities, The Bell reported on December 24.

The appreciation, which took the exchange rate from RUB103 to RUB79 per dollar in less than twelve months, has occurred in defiance of conventional economic indicators, amid international sanctions, falling oil revenues and continued war in Ukraine.

According to the Central Bank, the ruble has been steadily strengthening since the beginning of 2025. In less than nine months, the exchange rate has weakened by almost 20% – from RUB103.4 at the beginning of the year to RUB83.35 per dollar on September 24. The last time the dollar exceeded RUB100 rubles was on January 21 (RUB101.9 per dollar), and exceeded RUB90 rubles on February 20 (RUB90.4 rubles).

At the heart of the ruble’s rally lies a confluence of domestic policy, suppressed imports, and Russia’s on the battlefield bringing the end of the almost four-year long war into sight.

The historically high key interest rate — averaging 19% over the year and cut to 16% in December — also played a central role in curbing demand for foreign currency while encouraging ruble-denominated savings. “This is one of the highest rates among developing economies,” The Bell noted, citing data from the Central Bank of Russia.

Imports declined by 2.4% in the first ten months of the year, compared to the same period in 2024, further easing demand for foreign exchange. Although exports dropped more sharply — down 4.2% y/y largely due to falling oil prices — Russia maintained a positive trade balance. The ruble's use in international transactions also rose sharply, with 54.6% of imports now paid in rubles, up from 30.4% at the start of the year. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that almost all Russia’s foreign trade with China and the Eurasian Economic Union (EUU) is now settled in national currencies and not dollars.

Exporters sold $85.7bn in foreign exchange revenues during the same ten-month period, down from $121.5bn a year earlier. Nonetheless, the lower demand for foreign currency helped sustain the ruble's strength in a restricted market.

Speculation over a shift in US foreign policy under President Donald Trump, who released a new aggressive National Security Strategy (NSS) in December, has also contributed to the ruble's appreciation. “Geopolitical factors played in favour of the Russian currency,” said Natalia Orlova, Chief Economist at Alfa-Bank, citing market optimism about Russia’s potential reintegration into the global economy.

Analysts at Alfa-Bank also pointed to robust domestic demand for quasi-currency bonds — debt instruments tied to foreign currencies but settled in rubles — as another factor supporting the exchange rate. Issuance of such bonds reached RUB1.7 trillion ($18.4bn) in ruble equivalent this year, according to the Central Bank of Russia.

The downside to a strong ruble is that it negatively impacts the federal budget revenues. Oil revenues in the budget are denominated in dollars, but expenditure is in rubles, so a stronger ruble reduces the number of rubles available for spending. The Finance Ministry has not commented publicly on whether any adjustments to the fiscal rule are under consideration.

The strength of the ruble remains an important factor in Russia’s economy which is export orientated thanks to its raw material production. In 2024, exports of goods and services accounted for 21.9% of GDP. The sectors most vulnerable to ruble appreciation are oil and gas, forestry and wood processing, and transport engineering. Federal oil and gas revenues fell by 22% compared to 2024 on FX effects alone.

However, at the same time, a stronger ruble has helped slow inflation in Russia by making imported goods and services cheaper for Russian consumers, according to CBR. Inflation has been one of the major economic headaches for the CBR, but inflation fell faster than expected in 2025 and by late November had dropped from over 10% at the start of the year below 7%, which has allowed 500bp of rate cuts in 2025 – probably the most important macroeconomic management action of the year.

It is highly unlikely that 2026 will be as favourable for the ruble as 2025, The Bell said in a commentary. Oil prices tumbled in the last months of 2025, with the price of Brent dropping below $60 a barrel and the price of the Russian Urals blend falling below $40 on deep discounts offered following the Trump administration harsh new oil sanctions. At the same time, a record surplus in global oil supply is forecast for 2026 due to OPEC production increases. The International Energy Agency forecasts an average Brent crude price of $52 per barrel for the coming year that will cut into the current account surplus.

“In this configuration, I would call the ruble overvalued. It’s not a classic bubble, but the margin of safety in terms of fundamental flows is no longer very strong. Some momentum for appreciation is still possible, but the balance of risks is shifting toward a weaker ruble over the coming months,” Vladimir Chernov of Freedom Finance Global told The Bell. Chernov expects the dollar to trade in the range of RUB77–82 by year-end.

Factors weighing on the ruble in 2026:

• Weak oil and gas revenues: Brent near or below $60 per barrel would reduce foreign exchange earnings and worsen the current account balance; a global oil surplus limits price recovery prospects.
• Central Bank rate cuts: Planned reduction of key interest rate to 13–15% will make ruble assets less attractive, increasing demand for foreign currency.
• Reduced foreign currency sales from the National Wealth Fund: Lower oil price thresholds and a more balanced budget will limit currency interventions, per Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina.
• Growth in imports and domestic demand: Rising business purchases of equipment and consumer goods may boost demand for foreign currency and widen the import-export gap.
• Possible new sanctions: Lack of progress in Ukraine ceasefire talks may lead to further sanctions, fuelling investor risk aversion and demand for safe-haven currencies.

On September 24, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development revised its ruble exchange rate forecast. The average annual value for 2025 is expected to be RUB86.1 per dollar, compared to RUB94.3 per dollar in the April version. 

For 2026, the forecast has improved to RUB92.2 per dollar, up from RUB100.2 per dollar. 

In 2027, the ministry predicts the ruble will weaken to RUB95.8 per dollar, and in 2028, to RUB100.1 per dollar. Previously, the forecasts were RUB103.5 and RUB106 per dollar, respectively.

Corruption scandal means Zelenskiy would likely lose a presidential election

Corruption scandal means Zelenskiy would likely lose a presidential election / bne IntelliNews

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By Ben Aris in Berlin December 26, 2025

The expanding Energoatom corruption scandal has hurt Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's popularity and if elections were held this weekend he would lose in the second round, according to a Socis poll.

A majority of Ukrainians believe Zelenskiy should face either criminal prosecution or political sanctions in connection with alleged corruption where his close friend and former business partner Timur Mindich ran a $100mn kickback scheme.

As part of the ongoing peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, both the Trump administration and the Kremlin are insisting that Zelenskiy organise fresh presidential elections as soon as possible after a ceasefire is called. Zelenskiy has said that he is willing to do so and in sign of how far the talks have progressed last week the Rada submitted a bill to organise elections while martial law is still in effect – something that is otherwise banned by Ukraine’s constitution.

In the nationwide survey, 30% of respondents said Zelenskiy should be tried in court for corruption, while an additional 28.4% supported imposing political bans that would prevent him from running in future elections. Taken together, the findings indicate a clear majority in favour of holding the president accountable.

The results reflect growing public dissatisfaction amid the Mindich corruption scandal, which has implicated figures close to the president. Two ministers have already resigned and the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, was forced to quit. According to the poll, 39% of Ukrainians believe Zelenskiy was directly involved in the scandal, while 29.3% believe he at least had knowledge of it.

Zelenskiy’s approval ratings were already under pressure after he tried to gut Ukraine’s anti-corruption reforms on July 22 by forcing through Law 21414 on July 22 that would have put the main organs – National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) – under his personal control just as both bodies were zeroing in on corruption investigations in the president's inner circle that led to Mindich fleeing the country.

If presidential elections were held today, Zelenskiy and Ukraine’s former top general Valerii Zaluzhnyi, now the ambassador to the UK, would each receive roughly 30% of the vote in a first-round contest. However, Zelenskiy would be defeated in any likely runoff scenario.

In a hypothetical second round, Zaluzhnyi would defeat Zelenskiy by a wide margin: 64.2% to 35.8%, according to the poll.

Against another prominent military figure, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Zelenskiy would also lose, by 56.2% to 43.8%.

Budanov has overseen many military operations personally and recently launched a successful counter attack in the battle for Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub that supplies the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) defences for the entire frontline in eastern Ukraine. He has seen his popularity rise and is now one of the two top contenders to take over from Zelenskiy as president.

The Socis poll highlights the sharp political risks facing the president as the country navigates prolonged wartime governance, Western expectations for reform, and intensifying internal political rivalry.

 

This robot aims to make kids feel less lonely |Euronews Tech Talks

Copyright Euronews and No Isolation

By Alice Carnevali

Published on 24/12/2025 

Meet Karen Dolva, co-founder and former CEO of the Norwegian tech company No Isolation, helping children with medical conditions attend school.

In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognised loneliness as a global health threat, carrying serious consequences for people’s health and well-being.

Between 2014 and 2023, an estimated 16 per cent of people reported feeling lonely, equivalent to almost one person in six, with estimated rates of loneliness higher among adolescents, according to a 2025 WHO report.

According to the study, using technology to address isolation and loneliness is a growing area of interest, with online games, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and robotic companionship emerging as potential interventions.

In the final episode of the three-part series on robotics, Euronews Tech Talks explores the role of robotics in reducing loneliness, speaking with Karen Dolva, co-founder and former CEO of the Norwegian company No Isolation.

 

Gender inequality: How having children affects women’s careers

Copyright AP

By Servet Yanatma

Published on 26/12/2025 - EURONEWS

Gender inequality goes beyond visible and measurable gaps. Even subtle shifts in women’s job tasks after having children can significantly undermine their long-term career prospects.

Gender inequality affects women’s economic and social outcomes in almost every domain. It is visible in pay, employment and earning gaps, patterns of occupational segregation, and the limited presence of women in leadership roles and political institutions

These gaps widen further for women who take on a primary role in childrearing, often at precisely the moment when careers would otherwise accelerate.

A study from Germany shows that once they take on the task of raising children, women are assigned fewer analytical, complex and interactive tasks, particularly when they reduce their working hours — changes that can quietly narrow future opportunities for advancement.

The motherhood penalty

In a recently published paper in the Journal of Marriage and Family titled The Job Task Penalty for Motherhood, Wiebke Schulz from Bremen University and Gundula Zoch from Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg analyse changes in job tasks among 1,978 women, drawing on data from the German National Educational Panel Study covering the period from 2011 to 2020.

They track changes in five key dimensions of job tasks given to women, across three waves spanning a 12-year period, including analytic, complex, autonomous, interactive and manual.

Related

Interactive and analytical roles

Wiebke Schulz explained that interactive tasks often assume predictability and "being on call" for colleagues and clients. When caregiving constraints arise — or are assumed to rise — these tasks are easiest to reassign because they are usually coordination-heavy and time-sensitive.

Analytical or complex tasks can decline for two reasons. In some jobs, they require sustained concentration or ownership of longer work processes, which becomes harder under time pressure and fragmented schedules.

“But importantly, declines can also reflect managerial expectations: supervisors may pre-emptively steer mothers away from high-responsibility, high-growth tasks regardless of actual capacity,” Wiebke Schulz told Euronews Business.

She noted that after childbirth, many of the jobs or roles women are given shift away from "high-cognitive, high-interaction" work toward a narrower set of duties. The change is not just about switching jobs, it shows up as a change in what women do within their work lives after becoming mothers, especially when they work reduced hours.

Even small short-term task downgrades can accumulate. “If analytical, complex and interactive tasks are where skills grow, performance signals are produced, and leadership pipelines are built, then losing access to them can slow wage growth, reduce promotion chances, and lock people into flatter trajectories—even if job titles don’t change,” she said.

While the research covers Germany, the findings are broadly applicable and extend beyond its borders. She underlined that this is a broadly similar pattern across Europe, but the size and shape of the effect will vary with institutions and norms.

Recommendations to address this inequality

One way to address this is to make task allocation visible. Tracking who receives high-growth assignments — such as ownership of key clients, complex cases or project leadership — before and after parental leave or shifts to part-time work can reveal when and how opportunities quietly disappear.

Employers can also rethink how part-time roles are designed. By breaking complex work into modular tasks, formalising handovers and relying more on team-based ownership, analytical and high-responsibility work does not have to be treated as the preserve of full-time staff.

Another critical step is training managers to recognise expectation-based bias. The greatest risk is anticipatory reassignment: tasks are moved not because performance has changed, but because of assumptions about future availability or commitment.

Her policy recommendations are to expand full-day childcare and school coverage, strengthen rights to flexibility with career protections, and incentivise fathers’ leave and caregiving to reduce the "mother is the default adjuster" norm that shapes employer expectations.

 

Pasta à la army: How influential is the military in Egypt's economy?

Copyright AP Photo

By Euronews

Published on 25/12/2025 -

The Egyptian military has long held a significant stake in the country’s household brands. From pasta to petrol, what does this mean for the economy of the region’s biggest country?

Driving down a bustling street in Cairo, an Uber driver pointed out various businesses repeating the same refrain, “Huwa gaysh” - “That’s army.”

A burger restaurant, a hotel, even the cement used to build the bypass above. He turned into a petrol station and nodded. “Gaysh.”

In fact, their household brands are omnipresent for those living in the country.

Egypt’s national dish koshary recently won recognition from UNESCO for intangible cultural heritage.

If you eat the dish — a mix of lentils, chickpeas, vermicelli and macaroni topped with fried onions and a spicy sauce — there is a good chance that many ingredients were produced by, you guessed it, the Egyptian military.

“What is extraordinary in Egypt is that a lot of these products made in military factories are sold in the general economy," research fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael Matteo Colombo told Euronews.

"If you go to an Egyptian supermarket, you can easily find a bottle of water that is produced by the army.”

The IMF has agreed to lend Egypt €6.8 billion to address mounting economic challenges, but disbursements have been delayed due to what the organisation described as an economy "dominated by public-driven investments, an uneven playing field, and state-owned entities, including military ones."

The military's grip on Egypt's economy is nothing new, but its scale has expanded dramatically since 2011.

Military officers who ruled Egypt from the 1950s onwards used the armed forces to centralise state control.

President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who led from 1954 to 1970, brought the army into civilian production during a tumultuous post-independence period marked by conflicts with Israel.

Who started it all?

“It didn't start with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi,” Professor Khaled Fahmy told Euronews. “It started actually in the early 60s under Abdel Hakim Aymer, the head of the army under Gamal Abdel Nasser."

Fahmy, professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Tufts University, said the logic was that the army could respond more quickly in times of crisis. "That of course means no supervision, no auditing," he said.

But it was Nasser's successor, Anwar es-Sadat, who cemented the army's economic role.

In 1979, the same year Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel, es-Sadat established the National Service Projects Organisation to oversee military production of both military and civilian goods.

Egyptian military parade to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the October 1973 war with Israel, 6 October 1978 AP Photo

"The peace treaty did not result in the reduction of the size of the army," Fahmy said. "The question was, what do we do with the army, and how do you maintain the loyalty of senior officers now that they don't have the bonuses that they get from campaigns and war service."

Running lucrative subsidiaries of the NSPO became the answer.

Yezid Sayigh, author of Owners of the Republic: An Anatomy of Egypt's Military Economy, said the 2011 revolution catalysed a military economic boom.

“The military's share of any market sector was small before 2011, but grew dramatically in 'strategic' sectors such as cement and steel, building on strong presidential support and the military's political dominance," he told Euronews.

"The major changes since 2011 are twofold: in sheer volume, but also in acquiring a direct role in economic policy-making and state investment strategy."

This has had profound economic impact

'A sense of national pride'

Since 2015, Egypt’s economy has experienced significant challenges. Inflation has generally risen sharply, peaking at 38% in September 2023. It has since slowed to 12.3%, almost five times the EU rate.

Egypt’s currency, which the country unpegged from the US dollar in 2016, has depreciated significantly. In 2015, 1 euro would buy roughly 9 Egyptian pounds. Now that figure stands above 55.

Colombo observed that military presence in the economy could serve as a bulwark against the struggles families faced with the cost of living.

“The army would say to you that it has a good effect because it allows for a product to be sold at a lower price, affordable for Egyptians and that the army contributes to the production of Egypt," he said.

Colombo also cites “a sense of national pride” as motivating Egyptians to purchase these products, even if the quality is lower.

“Some people in Egypt do see the army as something to be proud of.”

 A woman shops at a supermarket in Cairo, 2 November 2016 AP Photo

However, he also sees the possible downsides to this: “You run the risk that if you have a large military production, you have fewer possibilities for others, so it kind of creates an uneven field.”

Meanwhile Sayigh questioned the specific dominance of military-owned products in many sectors of the economy.

In the mineral water market, army made water had less than 5% of the market share, while the “famed Macaroni Queen Company” was only producing a sixth of its production capacity, accounting for “a mere 1.5 kilograms per capita annually, or under 100 grams per soldier daily.”

However, this does not preclude the military from distorting the broader market.

“The main macro effects are diverting credit, thus squeezing the private sector's ability to borrow, and dominating investment opportunities, weakening the incentive for private investment," Sayigh explained.

"A secondary impact is to raise market prices and operating costs for private actors in sectors where state demand is very high,” he added.

Euronews has reached out to the Egyptian Ministry of Defence for comment.

How much does the army control? No one knows

There has been significant pushback on the military economy in recent times, especially internationally.

Ben Fishman, who served in the administration of US President Barack Obama, praised certain parts of the Egyptian government for its actions.

“The government budget itself is run by clear reformers. Specifically, the minister of finance and the Ministry of Investment and Development," he told Euronews.

"They understand these ideas, they're getting things run more efficiently, they're digitalising certain systems. They're creating tax initiatives for private sector enterprises,” he said.

Supporters of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi shout slogans of support to the army as they hold a poster with his picture, in Cairo, 25 January 2017 AP Photo

Fishman added that reforming the economy “is not something that al-Sisi can do overnight,” due to a range of factors, including the military's role in politics.

Fishman also cites money flowing in from the Gulf and the EU in aid and investment — despite concerns about military economic dominance — as perhaps allowing Egypt off the hook.

Another problem in liberalising the economy, cited by many of those Euronews spoke to, is the total lack of clarity about what the army actually has a financial stake in.

“People try to find out the percentage of the Egyptian economy that is controlled by the military. I think that's the wrong question. No one knows. Not even they know,” Fahmy said.

Unlikely bedfellows: Castrol deal draws private capital into industry

Copyright Rick Scuteri/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved.

By Una Hajdari
Published on 25/12/2025 - 12:37 GMT+1

The deal reflects a shift in how investors view businesses like Castrol — less as consumer brands, and more as industrial infrastructure embedded in the global economy.


Stonepeak, a US investment firm that specialises in infrastructure and real-asset businesses, has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Castrol, one of the world’s biggest lubricants companies, in a deal valuing the business at about $10.1 billion (€8.49bn).

The pairing is a novel one. Castrol is a century-old industrial brand long associated with oil majors, mass-market motorists and the physical machinery of the global economy.

Meanwhile, firms like Stonepeak typically operate behind the scenes, buying stakes in toll roads, pipelines, ports and data centres rather than consumer-facing brands.

The deal brings together two worlds that rarely intersect publicly: a household name built on industrial heritage and a private investment firm better known for owning the non-front-facing infrastructure.

How the deal is structured

Under the agreement, Stonepeak will acquire a majority controlling interest in Castrol from BP, which has owned the brand for more than two decades.

BP will retain a 35% minority stake, while Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) will invest up to $1.05bn (€891mn), giving it an indirect holding in the company.

Castrol is one of the largest lubricant producers in the world, supplying engine oils, industrial fluids and greases to customers in around 150 countries.

Its products are used across consumer automotive markets as well as heavy industry, manufacturing and energy systems.

Though best known for motor oils, Castrol has also supplied lubricants for aviation, space missions and professional motorsport, and is increasingly positioning itself for growth in electric vehicles and data-intensive infrastructure.

Stonepeak manages about $80 billion (€67.9bn) in assets and focuses on long-term investments in what it describes as “defensive” infrastructure and real-asset businesses, including energy, transport, logistics and digital infrastructure.

The Castrol acquisition marks one of its largest energy-related investments to date.

“Lubricants are a mission-critical product, which are essential to the safe and efficient functioning of virtually every vehicle, machine, and industrial process in the world,” said Anthony Borreca, senior managing director and co-head of energy at Stonepeak.

The deal also underlines how private capital is moving deeper into parts of the economy that most consumers never think about, but rely on every day.
Iconic brand with heritage

Infrastructure funds and pension-backed investors are increasingly interested in industrial businesses that sit quietly behind transport networks, manufacturing lines and energy systems — often with less public scrutiny than more politically sensitive sectors.

“Castrol’s 126-year heritage has created a leading market position, an iconic brand, and a portfolio of differentiated products that deliver meaningful value to its customers," Borreca continued.

For BP, the deal allows it to raise cash while keeping exposure to a business that remains profitable and strategically relevant, even as the oil major reshapes its portfolio.

“We are thrilled to have Stonepeak join us as a partner in Castrol. Stonepeak’s capital support, energy sector expertise, and experience working with similar companies that provide essential services will be immensely additive in helping the business to innovate and grow,” said Michelle Jou, global chief executive of Castrol.

“This transaction reflects our commitment to investing in the future and creating new opportunities for growth and success at Castrol, and we are proud that Stonepeak shares in our vision for the business as we take the next step in our journey.”

CPP Investments said Castrol was well placed to benefit from changes in the global energy system.

“Castrol is a high-quality, global business at the heart of the energy and industrial economy,” said Bill Rogers, managing director and head of sustainable energies at CPP Investments.

“Its cutting-edge innovations and premium brand position it well for a growing role in emerging applications, from electric vehicles to data centres.”

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. Completion would also trigger a mandatory tender offer for public shareholders in Castrol India.