Total completes acquisition of Gapco

Fuel station in Kampala
A Total fuel station in Kampala. Photo: Edgar R. Batte/Uganda Business News

Total S.A. has completed the acquisition of Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation (Gapco) from India’s Reliance Industries Limited following regulatory approvals.

The deal was first announced last year but was subject to approval from regulators.

Gapco has subsidiaries in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and has “two logistical terminals in Mombasa, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as well as a retail network of around one hundred service stations.”

The completed transaction was announced by Reliance Industries in a statement. However, it does not say how much the France-based Total paid for Gapco.

Although Reliance Industries had a 76% stake in Gapco, Total has fully acquired the petroleum company. The minority shareholder also “sold their entire respective holdings in GAPCO for cash,” according to the statement.

The acquisition “will strengthen Total’s logistics in the region and significantly accelerate the growth of our service station network, particularly in Tanzania,” Total said last year.

In 2015, Total had a market share of 17% in Africa’s petroleum retail sector. It hopes to grow this to more than 20%, partly through such acquisitions.

Latest data from the Ministry of Energy shows that Total had a market share of 16.33% in 2014 after Vivo Energy with 18.61%. Total’s takeover of Gapco, which had a market share of 3.97%, edges it past Vivo Energy as the market leader.

Total Uganda had 121 fuel stations in 2016, while Gapco had 32.