Botswana tycoon Ramachandran Ottapathu's Engen takeover faces public competition hearing

Botswana's competition regulator has opened Ramachandran Ottapathu's bid for control of Engen Botswana to public scrutiny, inviting competitors, customers, government institutions and members of the public to comment before it decides.

The Competition and Consumer Authority scheduled a public hearing for July 28 on Fusion Spark Proprietary Limited's proposed acquisition of Vivo Energy's 70% shareholding in Engen Botswana Limited. The matter is listed as merger notice number 14 of 2026.

The hearing allows the merging parties to argue their case orally while giving anyone else an opportunity to raise objections. It is an unusual level of openness for a commercial transaction, and reflects how central fuel retail is to the Botswanan economy.

The deal exists because of a problem the regulator identified two years ago.

Vivo Energy, which is owned by the Swiss commodities house Vitol, acquired Engen Limited from Malaysia's state oil company PETRONAS in May 2024, and inherited the 70% stake in Engen Botswana as part of that purchase. But Vivo already operated Shell-branded service stations in the country. The authority determined that one company owning both brands could substantially lessen competition in the downstream petroleum market, and required Vivo to sell.

Vivo signed a share purchase agreement with Fusion Spark on April 17 after what it described as a competitive sales process.

Who exactly is buying depends on which document you read. Vivo describes Fusion Spark as a consortium comprising Mount Meru Group and Ottapathu. Records at the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority show Ottapathu as the beneficial owner of Fusion Spark with 100% shareholding.

Mount Meru is a Dubai-headquartered energy and logistics group founded by the Mittal family, active in more than a dozen African countries, which has separately agreed to buy Vivo's fuel businesses in Rwanda and Malawi.

Atul Mittal, a director of the group, said the consortium combined Ottapathu's local knowledge with Mount Meru's regional experience, describing Botswana as a country with a stable, well-governed economy and calling the acquisition a long-term commitment.

For Ottapathu, the transaction would be the largest extension yet of a portfolio built almost entirely inside Botswana.

He is best known for building Choppies Enterprises from a small Botswanan grocery operation into one of Africa's larger supermarket chains, and remains its chief executive. He has since expanded into property through The Far Property Company, healthcare and retail distribution through Kamoso Africa, and fuel retail through Ajantha Proprietary Limited, which already owns filling stations in the country.

Buying 70% of Engen Botswana would move him from operating individual service stations to controlling one of the two dominant fuel brands in the market, in a sector historically held by multinational oil companies.

That prospect has produced questions from the people who run the stations.

Engen retailers sought reassurance about their positions as the transaction advanced, according to reporting in June. Their association said Engen Marketing Botswana had told them the deal was not expected to affect current operations and that engagement would continue, and that Ottapathu had indicated business would carry on as usual. Future expansion and investment decisions, the association was told, would depend on prevailing market conditions.

Neither Vivo Energy nor Fusion Spark has disclosed what is being paid for the stake.

The authority has not said when it will rule.