Kenyan oil company KenolKobil has announced that it has acquired 33 petrol stations from Caribbean-based multinational Delta Petroleum for an undisclosed value.
The additional 23 petrol stations in Uganda and 10 in Rwanda take KenolKobil’s total outlets to 56 and 61 outlets in each respective country. This will bring the company’s total number of outlets to 433, with 200 in Kenya and the remainder split between Zambia, Ethiopia and Burundi. Chief executive officer David Ohana said “Uganda and Rwanda is very promising for us. I cannot disclose the transaction value but we are paying in cash generated from our operations”.
This marks KenolKobil’s first expansion since it announced its departure from the Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo markets in early 2016 despite a US$8.9m profit in the first half of 2015. In the first half of 2018, the company reported a net profit growth of 16% to US$15.5m and cash reserves of US$34m.
KenolKobil was founded in 1959 as Kenya Oil Company (Kenol), a wholesaler of packaged kerosene. In 1986, it entered a joint operations and management agreement with US-based Kobil Petroleum, which had acquired Mobil Oil’s assets in Kenya and Uganda in 1984. The company expanded into Uganda in 1999 by acquiring Galana Oil Uganda and its 19 petrol stations. This was followed by expansion across Eastern, Central and Southern Africa between 2001 and 2011, including entering Rwanda in 2006 by acquiring Shell Rwanda from Royal Dutch Shell. In 2007, Kobil acquired 100% of the shares in Kobil Petroleum, merging the two companies to form KenolKobil. In 2017, the company had the second biggest market share of Kenyan petroleum sales, with 16.5%, behind only Vivo Energy at 17.6%.
KenolKobil is currently the subject of a takeover deal by French oil distributor Rubis Energie. As of last month, Rubis already owns 25% of KenolKobil and is offering to buy out the other shareholders at US$0.22 per share, valuing KenolKobil at a total of US$347.6m. Mr Ohana said of the takeover “It is a good time. We have worked hard to turn around the company”.
