What a night – the gala dinner of the Private Equity Africa 2016 awards. It is the 5th year of these awards and all the “great and good” of Africa’s private equity fund managers (general partners/GPs), investors (limited partners/LPs) and service providers gathered at The Langham hotel in London to celebrate how their industry is growing in size and sophistication. A full day conference (I was honoured to be MC) charted the changes with sessions on new structures for private equity funds, the rise of stock exchange IPOs as exits, specialized agriculture, healthcare and other funds, the changing valuation premium on Africa’s businesses post the currency crises.. and many more topics for 2016.
Congratulations to the winners of the 2016 Private Equity Africa Awards. The final award winners were selected by an independent panel of judges and recommendations from the London Business School Institute of Private Equity nomination team.
OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP AWARD
Honourable Okey Enelamah, founder of African Capital Alliance and now Minister for Industry, Trade & Investment, Government of Nigeria. The award was presented by Right Honourable Baroness Lynda Chalker of Wallasey who also made a speech. It is awarded based on voting by leading industry investors.
HOUSE AWARDS
HOUSE OF THE YEAR
Sub-Saharan Africa House of the Year: Helios Investment Partners
North Africa House of the Year: Abraaj
Francophone Africa House of the Year: Adenia
West Africa House of the Year: Synergy Capital Managers
SPECIAL RECOGNITION: HOUSES
The event also recognised investors that had delivered exceptional transactions during 2014 that do not fall into the main award categories.
Credit Investor: Investec Asset Management
Mid Cap Investor: Development Partners International (DPI)
SSA Fund of the Year, awarded in partnership with Financial Services Promotion Agency (FSPA): Helios Investment Partners for Helios III
Pan-Africa Exits: Actis
Outstanding First-Time GP: Verod Capital
DEAL AWARDS
EXIT OF THE YEAR
Large Cap Exit of the Year: Helios Investment Partners for Equity Bank
Mid Cap Exit of the Year: AfricInvest for UAP Holdings
Small Cap Exit of the Year: Adenia for Newpack
DEAL OF THE YEAR
Mid Cap Deal of the Year: Amethis for Novamed
Small Cap Deal of the Year: Databank for Norish
SPECIAL RECOGNITION: DEALS
The event also recognised deals that had delivered exceptional transactions during 2015 that do not fall into the main award categories, are had not comparable contenders.
Debt Deal: XSML for Médecins de nuit
Infrastructure Deal: African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) for Azura Power
Large Cap Deal: Abraaj for North Africa Hospital Holdings Group
Frontier Deal – Morocco: TPG-Satya for Ecoles Yassamine
Frontier Deal – Côte d’Ivoire: Duet for SAPLED
Frontier Deal – Uganda: 8 Miles for Orient Bank
PORTFOLIO AWARDS
PORTFOLIO COMPANY OF THE YEAR
Development Impact: Emerging Capital Partners for CIPREL
Social Impact: Fanisi for Haltons
Innovation: Adenia for Syrse
Improvement: Mediterrania Capital Partners for CashPlus
ADVISOR AWARDS
ADVISORS OF THE YEAR
Overall Legal Advisor (Deals & Funds): Clifford Chance
Funds Legal Advisor: King & Wood Mallesons
Deals Legal Advisor: Webber Wentzel
Single Deal Advisor of the Year: Linklaters for NSIA
Single Fund Advisor of the Year: O’Melveny & Myers for Helios III
SPECIAL RECOGNITION: ADVISORS
Advisor of the Year – Fund Administration: Trident Fund Services
SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS: ADVISORS
The event also recognised advisors that had delivered exceptional transactions during 2015 that do not fall into the main award categories.
Mid-Cap Advisor: Dentons
Local Legal Advisor: Anjarwalla & Khanna
Regional Legal Advisor: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Corporate Finance Advisor: Intercontinental Trust
The hard-working awards judges were:
Vivina Berla, Co-Managing Partner, Sarona Asset Management
Daniel Broby, Director CeFRI, University of Strathclyde
Matthew Craig-Greene, Founder, Craig-Greene & Co
Arnaud de Cremiers, Partner, Adams Street Partners
Mark Flanagan, Assoc. Partner, Aon Hewitt
Mark Florman, ex-CEO, British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association
Jean-Luc Koffi Vovor, Founder, Kusuntu
Peter Maila, Investment Director, CDC
Tom Minney, CEO, African Growth
Rory Ord, Executive, RisCura
Charles Rose, Chairman, Hainsford Renewable Energy
Daniel Schoneveld, Principal, Hamilton Lane
Hervé Schricke, President, AFIC Africa
Dushy Sivanithy, Portfolio Director, CDC
Arjette van den Berg, Independent Private Equity Advisor
Erika van der Merwe, CEO, SAVCA
Gail Mwamba, Editor, Private Equity Africa (Awards Chair)
The advisors were Adeola Dosunmu, Head of Research, Private Equity Africa (Awards Director); Mark Artivor, Independent Private Equity Advisor; Alfonso Campo, Reporter, Private Equity Africa and Joe Walsh, Reporter, Private Equity Africa.
