 | Next All News Previous |
31-Jan-2012
Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), the pan-African private equity specialist, announces it has successfully fully exited its 24.9% stake in the Ivory Coast-based company specializing in land development and housing construction, Batim Africa. The exit represents 1.5x ECP's initial investment.
The divestment follows the acquisition of 92% of the shares of Batim Africa's holding company, Colina Group, to Moroccan insurance company Saham Group. The news marks the culmination of ECP's seven year investment in Batim Africa, a construction project management company with operating subsidiaries throughout the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
ECP's investment, made through its Central Africa Growth Sicar (CAGS) Fund, provided growth and development capital for the company, which was incorporated in 2003 and includes among its subsidiaries the Ivorian Batim-CI, which has built more than 9,000 properties since inception in 1989. The Fund's investment has been instrumental in helping Batim Africa expand into new markets such as Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. The CAGS Fund was also valuable in assisting the company in obtaining additional financing.
Commenting on the sale, Ferdinand Ngon, Managing Director at ECP's Douala office, said: "As the population in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to grow and people migrate into the cities, Batim Africa is well placed to provide much needed housing through its construction projects across the Ivory Coast, Mali, Angola, and most recently, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. It is doubly gratifying to see such an organization exit successfully following a period of political uncertainty to embark on a new period of strategic expansion under the direction of its new owners at Saham Group."
Emerging Capital Partners has been investing across the African Continent for over ten years, and has accomplished more than twenty exits on its investments in a range of sectors, including financial services, agribusiness, healthcare, telecoms, industrials, and natural resources. ECP's CAGS Fund includes investments in SEP Pharma, a holding company focused on acquiring equity participations in wholesale pharmaceutical and healthcare services companies in Cameroon and Nigeria, and Continental Reinsurance, one of the largest players in the Nigerian reinsurance industry. For more information, please see here.
About Emerging Capital Partners
Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) is the first private equity firm to raise more than US$1.8 billion for growth capital investing in Africa. Founded in 2000, ECP was one of the first firms dedicated to Africa which, today, translates into investments in more than 50 African companies through seven funds. Today, ECP has more people on the ground than any other firm: more than 70% of its investment professionals, who hail from 12 African countries, operate from 6 local offices.
In June 2011 ECP was named EMEA Finance magazine's ‘Best Private Equity House in Africa' for a second consecutive year. ECP's investments are the most diversified of any African PE firm with capital in over 40 African countries. Sectors include financial services, telecommunications, natural resources, agriculture and infrastructure.
For more information on Emerging Capital Partners, please contact:
Sarah Caddy/Sara Firouzyar
Gong Communications
+44 (0)20 7935 4800