Dealers of a Kobil petrol station have moved to court to stop their eviction by the new French multinational Rubis.
The French company is phasing out KenolKobil and Gulf Energy brands, which it acquired last year and rebranding them as Rubis Kenya.
Adivinner and Company owes Rubis Sh7.2 million as rent for the Embakasi Kobil station, an amounts it (Adivinner) disputes.
Adivinner moved to court last week saying it risks losses if the French multinational evicts them from the Embakasi station.
Grace Mmasi, a senior principal magistrate at Milimani Commercial Courts, on November 23 allowed Rubis to recover Sh7.2 million plus incidental costs of recovery from Adivinner.
“This is not an eviction order and should not be construed as such,” Mmasi said in the orders seen by Star.
However, Adivinner claims Rubis plans to use these orders to evict the dealer from the station. Rubis has denied this.
It says this would be in contravention of Mmasi’s orders and also orders from an ongoing case at Milimani and the Business Rent Tribunal, which order the parties to maintain status quo.
Vice-chairman of the Business Rent Tribunal, Patricia May, in July ruled the landlord should not evict the tenant pending the ongoing rent dispute between the two.
Rubis acquired KenolKobil in March last year in a Sh36 billion deal.
It currently has 230 service stations from its acquisition, with the two oil marketing companies giving Rubis a lead market share of 21.6 per cent in the country’s petroleum sales market.
KenolKobil was the third-largest (in sales market share) with 15.4 per cent while Gulf Energy had a 6.2 per cent market share.
The combined share now puts Rubis ahead of another French-owned oil and gas brand Total, which has a 16.3 per cent share, and Vivo Energy, which enjoys a 16.1 markets share.
“We plan to do (rebrand) about 30 this year, 150 next year and by end of 2022, we expect to have fully transitioned,” Jean-Christian Bergeron, Group Managing Director Rubis Energy Kenya and CEO East Africa, said in Nairobi.