Leading website and magazine Private Equity Africa lists the top 10 Africa private equity deals from 2014. They use data from Preqin.
1. Helios Investment Partners – Helios Towers Africa – $630m
This is the second year that Helios Investment Partners took the top slot when it led a consortium to inject $630m of growth capital into telecommunications service provider Helios Towers Africa (HTA) in July. It was US-based private equity investor Providence Equity Partners’ first deal in Africa. The IFC’s African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund also invested for the first time in HTA. Existing investors Quantum Strategic Partners, Albright Capital Management and RIT Capital Partners also backed the tranche. (Helios’ big deal in 2013 was to partner with BTG Pactual and Indorama to bring $1.5bn investment into Nigeria-based oil and gas exploration company, Petrobras Africa.)
2. Emerging Capital Partners leads consortium – IHS – $490m
Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) led the consortium that invested $490m in Nigeria-based telecommunications towers company IHS. The latest 2014 funding round brought in Goldman Sachs was a new investor and the IFC Global Infrastructure Fund and African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) were also in. IHS is part-owned by Investec Asset Management, the first private equity investor to fund its expansion. Other existing investors are ECP, Wendel, sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO). KIC first backed IHS when it joined Investec and ECP in a $1bn financing round in 2013. Standard Chartered Bank contributed $70m in senior debt specifically set apart to finance expansion into Zambia as part of the capital package
3. Abraaj – Liberty Star – confidential
South Africa’s Liberty Star Consumer Holdings (Libstar) manufacture and distributes food. It sells private-label products to retailers, own-brand products and third-party packaging and ingredients to the food industry. Abraaj acquired a majority stake in the company through a secondary buyout from Metier, Old Mutual Private Equity, Development Partners International and Lereko – which have all exited the company. Libstar management took a minority stake in the buyout. The deal value is confidential.
4. Atlas Merchant Capital – Union Bank of Nigeria – $270m
The investment was channelled through Atlas Mara Co-Nvest, its $325m investment vehicle listed on the London Stock Exchange. Atlas Merchant previously held 9.05% in Union Bank, inherited when it took over ADC African Development Corporation in early 2014. It committed the capital by exercising an option to acquire 20.89% of the financial services company.
5. IFC-Asset Management Compan & Temasek – Seven Energy – $255m
More sovereign wealth fund action in April, when Singapore’s Temasek partners with IFC Asset Management Company (IFC-AMC) to invest $255m in Nigeria’s Seven Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company. Temasek contributed $150m for a 25% stake. Previous investors in Seven Energy include Actis, Investec Asset Management, Africa Finance Corporation, Capital International Private Equity and Standard Chartered Private Equity. Seven Energy’s $600m capital-raising round included $335m in debt of which the IFC African, Latin American, and Caribbean Fund contributed $30m.
6. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts – Afriflora – $200m
KKR’s first deal for Africa, in July, was approximately $200m in Afriflora, an Ethiopia-focused agriculture production company that cultivates, produces and sells roses based on Fairtrade standards. The company operates as Sher Ethiopia. The investment is part of KKR’s $6.2bn European Fund III.
7. Carlyle – Tiger Automotive – confidential
It was fast-moving Carlyle’s third deal of the year from its maiden $698m Africa-focused fund, closed earlier in 2014. It bought South Africa’s vehicle accessories distributor Tiger Automotive (TiAuto) in November. It partnered with Old Mutual Private Equity (OMPE) to buy the company from Ethos Private Equity. TiAuto operates through 7 divisions, including Tiger Wheel & Tyre, Tyres & More, YSA and Treads Unlimited and primarily distributes branded tyres such as Continental, Yokohama, Michelin, Pirelli, Goodyear, Achilles, GT Radial and Hankook.
8. Stanchart – Sphinx Glass – $180m
Standard Chartered Private Equity backed a deal and partnered with Saudi Arabia’s Construction Products Holding to buy Egypt-based industrial production company Sphinx Glass from Qalaa Holdings (formerly Citadel Capital) in May for $180m. Sphinx Glass operates under license from US-based PPG Industries, a specialist float glass technology provider. Qalaa sold it as part of a strategy to shed non-core assets.
9. Rocket & Kinnevik – Jumia – $148m
Hotshot tech investors Rocket Internet and Kinnevik put another $148m into their consumer shopping platform Jumia in December. US-based private equity investor Summit Partners owns part of Jumia and JP Morgan Asset Management has also previously invested. Jumia owns consumer shopping websites offering branded consumer products as Internet shopping starts to take Africa by storm. Rocket Internet has previously backed Groupon, eBay, Facebook, LinkedIn and Zynga. Watch this space.
10. Carlyle Diamond Bank – $147m
Carlyle’s fourth deal was into Nigeria-based financial services company Diamond Bank, which is a Tier II bank, covering corporate, retail and public sector banking with subsidiaries offering custodian, mortgage, securities and insurance products and services. Kunoch Holdings, the Africa-focused investment platform of entrepreneur and investor Pascal Dozie, raised its holding in the bank from 5.86% to 20.65% in August, buying the additional stake from Actis and CDC Group.
*Rankings based on Preqin data and Private Equity Africa research.
