(AOF) – Following the signature announced on March 31, 2022 of the agreement providing for the sale to the MSC Group of Bolloré Africa Logistics, bringing together all of the Bolloré Group’s transport and logistics activities in Africa, on the basis of an enterprise value, net of minority interests, of 5.7 billion euros, the Bolloré Group announces that the regulatory and competition authority authorizations which condition the completion of the sale have been obtained.
The sale could take place in the coming weeks, it being recalled that, in accordance with the agreements concluded with the MSC Group, it should take place by the end of the first quarter of 2023 at the latest.
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Key points
– Family holding company created in 1822 with strong positions in three activities: transport and logistics –its historical business-, communication and electricity storage solutions;
– Revenues of €19.8 billion, split between transport and rail and port logistics (50% of revenues, mainly in Africa), communication (48% with Vivendi and its subsidiaries Canal +, Havas, etc.), and storage energies and systems under the Blue Solutions and Blue Applications brands;
– Business model aimed at revenue resilience through business diversification combining international development and innovation;
– Capital locked by the Compagnie de l’Odet family holding company (66.69% of the shares and 76.55% of the voting rights), Cyrille Bolloré being Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the 13-member Board of Directors;
– Healthy balance sheet with, at the end of June, a debt/equity ratio of 13% and €2.6 billion in liquidities at the level of the holding company.
Challenges
– Innovation strategy rich in 780 patents and deployed in 3 parts from the Paris and Singapore centers:
– participation in the energy transition through clean energy transport and storage activities, – mastery of lithium batteries, status granted by the French State as an operator of the charging infrastructure network for electric vehicles,
– in logistics: sustainable logistics via alternative products (biofuel evolution) in energy, integration of LMP batteries, regulation of flow management, etc.,
– securing information systems, hence the global partnership with China’s Alibaba on the cloud, digital transformation, innovation and data storage;
– Environmental strategy “innovating in the face of environmental challenges”:
– carbon neutrality in 2050 and 30% reduction (vs 2019) in CO2 emissions in 2030:
– more than €150 million invested over the next 3 years in energy transition – LMP, Blubus and Bluestorage batteries,
– preservation of biodiversity and use of renewable energies;
– Towards a sale, in the 1st quarter of 2023, of logistics activities in Africa (a quarter of revenues but 60% of operating income) to the Swiss MSC on the basis of an amount of €5.7 billion;
– Relaunch of LMP (lithium metal polymer) batteries, already used by buses, in the direction of private vehicles, in partnership with the Canadian Li-Méétal, whose series production will begin in 2026.
Challenges
– Complex group difficult to value: several self-control structures, cross-shareholdings and frequency of arbitrages between shareholdings (recurring rumors of reinforcement in the capital of Vivendi, held at 27%);
– Monitoring of the valuation of the portfolio of listed securities, worth €17.4 billion, in addition to wine and farming assets;
– Speculations on a strengthening of the family holding company Cie de l’Odet in the capital of the group;
– Towards a sale, in the 1st quarter of 2023, of logistics activities in Africa (a quarter of revenues but 60% of operating income) to the Swiss MSC on the basis of an amount of €5.7 billion;
– In the 1st half, 24% increase in revenues, driven by inflation in prices and oil freight, and 156% in net profit;
– Payment in September of an interim payment of €0.02 on a dividend maintained at €0.06 since 2014.