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French billionaires Vincent Bolloré and Xavier Niel are opposing a plan by Rubis SCA, the Paris-listed fuel distributor with large operations across Africa, to hand its managing partners about €450 million ($504 million) in new shares as the company scraps its partnership structure.
The award, part of Rubis's plan to convert from a partnership limited by shares into a standard public limited company, would give the partners about 12.7 million new shares, equal to 12.3% of the current share capital. Shareholders are due to vote on the proposal on Dec. 9, and it needs at least two-thirds of the votes cast to pass.
Bolloré, who owns about 6% of Rubis through Plantations des Terres Rouges, will vote against the plan unless the award is cut, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 10. Niel's personal investment company, NJJ Holding, which holds about 1%, will oppose the current proposal, a representative said.
The two tycoons have lined up behind Patrick Molis, Rubis's largest shareholder with about 9% of the shares. Molis has said he would likely file his own resolution to cap the award at 10% of the share capital if Rubis does not revise its offer.
Why the partners stand to be paid
Rubis has long been run as a société en commandite par actions, a French corporate form that gives its general partners firm control of the company even with a small equity stake. The managing partners, Gilles Gobin, Jacques Riou and Clarisse Gobin-Swiecznik, together own just over 2% of the capital.
Rubis announced the change on Oct. 19, saying a conventional corporate structure would make the company more attractive to a broader range of investors and give it more room to pursue growth and acquisitions. The proposed award, which compensates the partners for giving up their rights, sits at the top of an 11% to 12.3% range set out in a report by consulting firm Ledouble.
Gobin founded Rubis in 1990 and has run it with Riou for more than three decades.
A large African footprint
Rubis is a major fuel distributor in Africa. It runs service stations, fuel depots and liquefied petroleum gas operations in East and Southern Africa, including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Madagascar, Botswana and South Africa, as well as businesses in Nigeria and other parts of the continent. It built much of its East African network after buying Kenya's KenolKobil in 2019.
The dispute pits Rubis's founders against one of France's most active investors. Bolloré, 74, built his family's group into a media and logistics empire and controlled one of Africa's biggest port and logistics networks until 2022, when the Bolloré group sold Bolloré Africa Logistics to Mediterranean Shipping Co. for €5.7 billion. He first disclosed a stake of more than 5% in Rubis in 2024.
Niel, 59, founded French telecom operator Iliad SA, which sells mobile and broadband services under the Free brand. Both men appear on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires.
Figures were converted at €1 to $1.12.
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