Rubis completes purchase of Gulf Energy

French multinational Rubis Energie has completed the purchase of oil marketer Gulf Energy in a deal that now makes it the largest petroleum dealer in Kenya.

The deal has been completed in one of the shortest times, with Rubis taking six weeks to wrap up the transaction which it first announced on November 4.

The multinational says it completed the deal, whose price was not disclosed, on December 13 through its subsidiary KenolKobil which it acquired in March for Sh35.6 billion.

“Following approval from the Kenyan Competition Authority and Energy Regulatory Commission, Rubis, via its local subsidiary KenolKobil, has finalised the acquisition of Gulf Energy Holdings Limited,” Rubis said in a statement.

“After having succeeded in its public offer on KenolKobil in March 2019, Rubis already active on the fast-growing Kenyan market will become market leader with a combined 20 percent market share.”

KenolKobil had a market share of 15.4 percent in the quarter ended June while that of Gulf stood at 5.8 percent in the same period, according to data from the Petroleum Institute of East Africa.

This means that the French conglomerate now has the largest market share of 21.2 percent, overtaking Total Kenya and Vivo Energy Kenya (the Shell licensee) which had market shares of 16.4 percent and 16.2 percent respectively.

“This acquisition is in line with Rubis’ development strategy and will strengthen Rubis’ position in an area where the Group foresees a strong growth in terms of energy demand,” Rubis said.

Gulf Energy, with 46 petrol stations, had cumulative volumes of 470,000 cubic meters of petroleum products last year.

The firm also owned two fuel depots in Mombasa and Nairobi as well as an LPG storage and filling plant and a lubricants unit. Gulf generated sales of €320 million (Sh36.7 billion) in 2018.

Rubis expects to ride on higher volumes resulting from the two mergers to generate significant economies of scale.