Bollore sells Africa logistics arm to MSC shipping company

Operated by the family of billionaire Vincent Bollore, French conglomerate Bollore Wednesday completed the sale of its Bollore Africa Logistics arm to shipping company MSC Group.

The Bollore company said the transaction was on the basis of a $6.1 billion enterprise value.

In Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Cambodia, local communities have denounced land grabbing and environmental destruction by the company.

The group before the sale of its Africa logistics arm had been accused of corruption and illegal practices in a number of deals allowing it to secure port concessions in Africa. That Included a major one in Togo. In 2021, Bollore agreed to pay a settlement of 12 million euros to have legal proceedings related to corruption charges in the west African nation dropped.

The Bollore company holds 29.5% of French media company Vivendi (VIV.PA) and roughly 18% of Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), as well as a small stake in Italian bank Mediobanca .