Will the group of French businessman Vincent Bolloré leave Africa?

French businessman Vincent Bolloré.

ERIC PIERMONT / AFP

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1 min

The question arises according to the French daily " 

which affirms that the Bolloré group has commissioned an investment bank to study the sale of its logistics activity in Africa.

A branch which employs more than twenty thousand people.

Long before becoming a media and communication mogul, Bolloré had made a fortune thanks to its port and rail activity in Africa.

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If communication today represents 80% of the profits of the Bolloré group, Africa, its ports and its railways is a historic fortress erected in the mid-1980s. When the Breton industrialist bought a transit company from Suez, the Socopao.

Today,

as a terminal operator, shipping line agent or stevedore.

It manages 16 container terminals, mainly in Central and West Africa, but also three rail concessions, warehouses and dry pots, etc ...

Two billion euros in annual turnover

The African branch weighs over two billion euros in turnover and employs 20,000 people.

It is also an essential vector of France's economic influence in Africa.

According to information from the daily

, Vincent Bolloré would have asked the investment bank Morgan Stanley to probe possible buyers for this African pole.

The French CMA-CGM, the Danish Mearsk, but also the port operator Dubai Ports World and the Chinese Cosco shipping would be possible buyers.

For 

, nothing seems decided yet.

What is certain is that for the past ten years, Bolloré has refocused its group on the television media, advertising and communication sectors.

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