Tanzania’s Lake Oil Ltd. is set to acquire a Kenyan local oil marketing company Hashi Energy, a move expected to increase Lake Oil’s presence in Kenya’s petroleum industry, where it is only active in the cooking gas segment and is yet to break even.
Lake Oil will only be acquiring the retail business, leaving Hashi to continue with the distribution of petroleum products as well as logistics, mining and lubricants businesses.
The transaction got approval from the Competition Authority of Kenya in January. “Competition Authority of Kenya has authorized the proposed acquisition of the retail petroleum business of Hashi Energy Ltd by Lake Oil Ltd,” said CAK Director-General Wang’ombe Kariuki in a gazette notice on Friday.
Hashi Energy, founded in 1991 by Ahemd Hashi, was the fifth largest oil marketing company in Kenya as of September last year. According to data from the Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA), the firm was the second largest marketer of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) with a market share of 22.2 percent.
In addition to its retail business, Hashi also has huge storage facilities in Kenya, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo with a combined capacity of 240 million litres. It also has a logistics arm that moves petroleum products within the region, mostly from Mombasa to the Kenyan hinterland as well as the landlocked countries in the region.
The company in October last year entered into a Kshs14 billion agreement with Dubai’s investment group S S Lootah that is expected to aid Hashi diversify into construction and food supplies. Lake Oil is owned by businessman Ally Edha Awadh and is part of a larger Lake Group.
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