RIL buys firm in East Africa

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has acquired a majority stake and management control of Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation (Gapco), a company which has a significant presence in East Africa in the petroleum downstream sector. The acquisition has been made through a wholly owned subsidiary, Reliance Industries Middle East, Dmcc (RIME) a company registered in united Arab Emirates, the company said on Tuesday.
Gapco, an entity based in East and Central Africa with headquarters in Mauritius, owns and operates large storage terminalling facilities and a retail distribution network in several countries including Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya. It also owns and operates large storage terminals in Dar-Es-Salaam (Tanzania), Mombassa (Kenya) and Kampala (Uganda) and has other well spread depots in East and Central Africa. It also operates more than 250 outlets covering retail and industrial segments.
The company said it considers its acquisition of Gapco as "strategic" and a step towards achieving its global vision in the petroleum downstream sector by integrating the entire value chain consisting of refining, shipping, trading, terminalling and marketing through retail and wholesale segments. This will help Reliance establish a natural marketing outlet for its refinery products.
"The East African countries, where Gapco operates, have demonstrated rapid economic growth and have progressive government policies in place. Import of petroleum products in these countries is rising and has mirrored the rapid GDP growth. It is also expected to rise further in the near future. Further, these markets are easily accessible from India."
RIL owns and operates the world’s largest greenfield refinery at Jamnagar on the west coast of India and is setting up another similar sized export-oriented refinery at the same location through Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL).