RIL completed sale of its Mauritius-incorporated arm GAPCO

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has completed the sale of its Mauritius-incorporated arm, Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation (GAPCO) (which trades and markets fuel in African markets), to French energy major Total Marketing & Services, marking its exit from the international fuel retail business. In May 2016, RIL’s subsidiary Reliance Exploration & Production DMCC had signed an agreement to sell its entire 76 per cent stake in GAPCO to Total. RIL has now concluded the transaction after obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals and consents. GAPCO is a holding company with operating subsidiaries in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda which are primarily engaged in petroleum imports, and the trading, storage, distribution, marketing, supply and transportation of oil products in East Africa. The transaction also involved minority shareholders who sold their entire respective holdings in GAPCO for cash. The deal consideration has not been divulged. RIL, like other private sector energy company Essar Oil, had started expanding its fuel retail business after the government deregulated diesel prices in October 2014.