(News Bulletin 247) – The company has progressed significantly for two sessions after it was revealed that the businessman took a stake of more than 5% through a company based in Luxembourg. Enough to encourage Oddo BHF to move to “outperformance” on the stock.

Quite a spotlight for Rubis. The company specializing in the distribution and storage of liquid energy products (fuel, LPG, bitumen) attracted the interest of Vincent Bolloré, which has increased its price for two sessions.

In a notice published by the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) on Monday, it was revealed that the businessman took a stake of more than 5% in the group’s capital via “Plantation des Terres Rouges”, a company based in Luxembourg.

Vincent Bolloré currently holds 5.207 million Rubis shares, or 5.03%, according to this opinion.

The announcement boosted Rubis’s price on Monday, with the stock gaining 2.6%. The action gained another 6.8% this Tuesday while Oddo BHF went from “neutral” to “outperformance” on value, following the entry into the capital of Vincent Bolloré. The financial intermediary also raised its price target to 36 euros compared to 31 euros previously.

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Bolloré known for having a hollow nose on the stock market

The research office estimates that Vincent Bolloré was able to pay around 130 million euros to acquire his stake in the market on the basis of an average share price of 25 euros.

For Oddo BHF, the arrival of the businessman in the group’s capital is undeniably a positive signal. “This entry into the capital of Bolloré can only be positive for Rubis shareholders,” summarizes the research office.

This even if it appears very unlikely that a public takeover offer from the businessman will occur since Rubis is a company limited by shares, a governance structure which makes a takeover almost impossible. .

“We believe that this is an essentially financial investment with the possibility of increasing its participation (and seeking to bring on board other shareholders) but it is not intended to take control of Rubis in the short term/ medium term in our opinion”, judges Oddo BHF.

But the arrival of Vincent Bolloré is encouraging for current shareholders. The businessman is known to have a hollow nose in his investments in the stock market. And even when he loses… He wins. In 2018, he gave up, via Vivendi, buying the video game group Ubisoft. Which, admittedly, constitutes a setback. But the consolation prize is far from trivial: by unwinding its 27.7% position in Ubisoft, Vivendi pockets a capital gain of 1.2 billion euros (sale of 2 billion euros when the incorporation of the participation was made at 794 million euros).

“Bolloré has a good track record of creating value through minority stakes. It also knows Rubis’ businesses well with some assets held in oil logistics and electricity storage (recent sale of Bolloré Logistics),” Oddo develops. BHF in its note. “We are now waiting to know its intentions, ahead of the general meeting of shareholders scheduled for June 11,” adds the research office.

Furthermore, Vincent Bolloré “is close to Sébastien Picciotto who, through Orfim, was a shareholder of Rubis for almost 20 years (with around 5% of the capital) before leaving 5 years ago at more than 46 euros. “action (compared to 31 euros currently)”, underlines Portzamparc.

Refocusing and good results

The arrival of Vincent Bolloré also comes after several good news surrounding Rubis. The group published excellent financial results for 2023 at the beginning of March, driven by optimal market conditions in the Caribbean area.

A few days later, the company announced the continuation of its refocusing with the sale of its 55% stake in its joint venture “Rubis Terminal”, specializing in the storage of liquid products, to its partner I Squared Capital, which owns the remaining 45%. All for an amount of 375 million euros, payment of which will be spread over four years.

This operation was perceived positively by Oddo BHF because it allows the group “to simplify its scope of activities (which does not benefit from synergies)” and “to increase its resources to finance significant investments in renewable energies”.