French multinational Rubis Energie is currently Kenya’s biggest oil marketer. It operates in Kenya through Rubis Energy.
Rubis Energy became a market leader in Kenya after Rubis Energie after paying €312 million (Sh. 36 billion) to buy shares of KenolKobil in March 2019.
After this acquisition, Rubis Energie spent Sh. 9.72 billion (€84 million) in acquiring Gulf Energy Holdings Limited Kenya in November 2019.
KenolKobil was for a long time recognized as the late Biwott’s flagship investment in Kenya having acquired a stake in it in the early 1980s. Through Wells Petroleum Holdings Ltd late Biwott’s 24.99 per cent shareholding in the company was sold to Rubis for Sh. 5.6 billion. Rubis Energy Kenya now runs a network of over 230 stations.
On its official website, Rubis Energie states that it owns Rubis Kenya 100 per cent. However, there have been claims that the ownership is further broken into stakes, one of which the Kenyatta family owns through proxy companies. This, though, is not evident in the list of shareholders provided by Rubis Energie.
According to the company website, as of 2020, 85.74 per cent of Rubis was owned by investors in a free float, Supervisory board (0.13 %) General Partner managers (2.21%), Marcel Dessault (5.45%), Wellington Management Group LLP (5.08%), Rubis Avenir mutual fund (1.32%), and Treasury shares (0.06%).
The updated list now shows that the shareholders are as follows:
