Mr. Patrick Kondo, a former top executive of KenolKobil has procured an injunction against the sale of the oil marketer to Rubis Energie, a French multinational company. This is until his plea of Kshs. 26.8 million is determined by the court.
KenolKobil’s shareholders had been granted an opportunity to accept Rubi’s buyout offer of Kshs. 23 per share until February 2018. The arrangement was expected to be concluded by March 11, if all the conditions set by the conglomerate would be met.
The order by Justice Hellen Wasilwa of the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi could rattle the calendar of the proposed Kshs. 32.6 billion transaction. Mr. Kondo worked at KenolKobil for more than two decades. He oversaw the company’s wave of acquisitions in the regional market under Jacob Segman, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He claims compensation for what he terms as unfair termination in 2017.
Rubis had listed major legal claims among the factors for which it could back out of this deal. This injunction could cause this deal to go down the drain. Ahead of the proposed transaction, KenolKobil had cleaned up its books by writing off odd claims and settling major disputes including a Kshs. 707.1 million pay-off to Mr. Segman.
Mr. Kondo’s lawyers argued that Rubis would not inherit KenolKobil’s pending liabilities and that he would be unable to collect his compensation. His lawyers say the oil marketer should deposit the Kshs. 26.8 million in an escrow account if it wants the buyout to proceed as planned.