Oryx Energies has come under the control of a team led by its Senegalese Managing Director Moussa Diao and head of trading Hervé Bouvet, following the buyout of the majority stake held by Addax & Oryx Group. The deal, revealed on 8 October and valued at about 1 billion dollars by several specialist media outlets, changes the shareholding of one of the leading independent distributors of petroleum products in Africa.
The exact stake sold, the lenders involved in the arrangement and the structure of the financing have not been made public. No statement detailing the transaction appeared on the Oryx Energies website at the time of checking. The amount should therefore be treated as a press estimate, not a price officially confirmed by the parties.
Moussa Diao has worked for more than twenty years within the group and has headed it as Managing Director since 2019. He has notably developed the liquefied petroleum gas activities in Benin and led regional trading from Côte d’Ivoire, according to his biography published by the company. Hervé Bouvet heads the trading business.
Oryx Energies imports, stores and distributes fuels, domestic gas and lubricants. The group states that it has established operations in 17 African countries, more than 410 service stations and eleven major storage terminals. This network gives the deal a direct bearing on markets where supply depends largely on imports of refined products.
The change of control does not, on its own, mean an immediate change in pump prices or commercial strategy in each country. These effects will depend on decisions taken by the new shareholders, supply contracts, national regulations and the evolution of international oil prices.