LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - China's Shengyang Group has finalized its purchase of French timber firm GEB in Gabon, completing a Chinese takeover of an industry once controlled by firms from former colonial power France.
The watering down of French interests in Gabon fits with President Ali Bongo's aims to diversify industries and investors in the oil-producing nation which has maintained close economic and political ties with the French since independence in 1960.
Some in Gabon are concerned about the environmental impact of newfound Chinese dominance of the timber industry.
