The internationally acclaimed oil company, Total S.A. Group, has reportedly divested its interest in Total Liberia, the company which added a huge flesh of modernity to the oil and gas sector of Liberia.
According to reports, TOTAL S.A. Group has sold Total Liberia to Conex Group JV Limited, a 100 percent Liberian owned investment holding company established in 2005.
After the civil conflict, oil and gas companies were known just for hauling and distributing their products to customers in an un-innovative and primitive way until TOTAL Liberia stepped in and began modernizing and beautifying filling stations.
Details of the deal are still sketchy, but information gathered from industry sources has it that Conex Group will commence full ownership of Total Liberia effective as of today, Monday, November 15, 2021.
It is expected under the agreement signed between outgoing TOTAL LIBERIA and Conex Group that Conex will retain all the employees of Total Liberia, including their respective positions, and continue doing business with existing vendors, customers etc or retain or shift management policy as it relates to running the company both in the short run or the long run.
Since its establishment in 2005, it operated (2) two aviation depots at RIA and Spriggs and (1) storage facility located at Bushrod Island in Clara Town, Monrovia. TOTAL Liberia marketed petroleum products through a chain of service stations spread across the country.
As part of its commitment to the retail sector, the company constructed thirty-one (31) modern service stations across the country. These stations offer consumers a one stop service point for fuel, lubricants, as well as mini mart. It invested over US$25M to construct modern service stations across the country and that TOTAL service stations are operated by Liberian businesses.
One of the areas that is likely to be affected is the huge human capital investment Total Liberia has made over the years. Total Liberia has a workforce of 82 employees, including interns and contract staff, with 6% of the employees being expatriates.
Moreover, the company greatly relies on the expertise of its Liberian staff who are mostly young graduates in the field of business, finance, marketing and administration and the experience of the expatriate staff renders immense support to the team. The company also indirectly employs over 500 persons at the service station level.
Total Liberia was also a strategic partner in the economy as it empowered and invested in Liberian businesses. As part of optimizing supply logistics and safety standards it designed an empowerment program in collaboration with the banks, truck dealerships and with the galvanized support from the Government of Liberia, under the auspices of the National Investment Commission for Liberian transport companies rendering services to the company to invest in new, modern trucks.
It is also important to state that the company lobbied on behalf of these Liberian transport companies to assist them in getting competitive prices for brand new and modern trucks reputable truck manufacturers, low interest long term loans from local banks, in particular ECO BANK and affordable insurance coverage for product and public liability insurance through Omega Insurance Company.
As a marketing subsidiary, TOTAL Liberia engages in two main activities; Retail Network (RN) and General Trade (GT) and also engages in the sale of JET A-1 into-plane services to domestic and international flights; sale of AGO, PMS and Kerosene to commercial clients and end-users and wide range of premium quality TOTAL branded lubricants for heavy and light duty industrial equipment, mining, motor vehicle applications, etc.
Total Liberia empowered and invested in Liberian businesses. As part of optimizing supply logistics and safety standards Total designed an empowerment program in collaboration with the banks, the truck dealerships and with the galvanized support from the Government of Liberia, under the auspices of the National Investment Commission, for Liberian transport companies rendering Services to Total to invest in new, modern trucks.
The company lobbied on behalf of these Liberian transport companies to assist them in getting competitive prices for brand new and modern trucks from reputable truck manufacturers, low interest long term loans from local banks, in particular ECO BANK and affordable insurance coverage for product and public liability insurance through OMEGA INSURANCE COMPANY.
Brief history of Conex Group
Conex Group states on its official pages that it provides capital resources and has highly skilled and talented management teams in the investees’ companies. It is the holding company for a group of companies operating in the western sub-region of Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, etc.
It can be recalled that Total Oil and Gas two years ago, was quoted from its management that in line with its strategy of actively managing its asset portfolio and its objective to divest $5B on years 2019-2020, it was pursuing the divestments of several non-core assets in both Exploration-Production (Brunei) and Marketing & Services (Sierra Leone and Liberia) and these divestments represent a global value of more than 400 million US Dollars.
“These sales will contribute to Total’s ongoing divestment program and demonstrate our ability to relentlessly high-grade our portfolio. In the current context of low oil prices, these transactions support the action plan announced to weather the crisis”. Jean-Pierre Sbraire, Chief Financial Officer of Total Oil and Gas stated. The deal enables Conex to become a leading player in the oil and gas sector in the two countries.
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