Actis says has more than $300 m investments in Egypt

Cairo - Actis has been named Private Equity Firm of the Year in Africa by Private Equity International, and Infrastructure Fund Manager of the Year in Africa by Infrastructure Investor. The annual awards are voted for by investors, advisors, investee companies and other stakeholders.

Actis has US$1.7 billion invested across 18 African countries, of which more than US$300 million is invested in Egypt. Significant current investments include Egypt’s largest private sector bank, Commercial International Bank (US$244 million in 2009), and Emerging Markets Payments Holdings (EMPH).

EMPH is Actis’s strategy to build the leading electronic payment and card processing company in the Middle East and Africa. The EMPH story began in 2010 when Actis invested US$30m in MSCC, now EMP Africa, an Egyptian company processing debit and credit cards for banks. Since then Actis has built on MSCC’s success with acquisitions and organic growth; investing over US$120m and capitalising on the rapid switch in consumer behaviour, from cash to electronic payments. With offices in Cairo, Johannesburg, Lagos and Amman, EMPH now processes cards for 120 of the 300 banks in Africa.

These awards recognise the role Actis plays in supporting Africa’s most innovative and fastest growing companies.

“We are very pleased with this recognition, which illustrates our financial commitment to the region, our strong network and teams and our track record of delivering creative and ambitious deals, which put significant capital to work and achieve great outcomes. Our optimism for Egypt and North Africa continues with well-advanced plans for several further investments in this region”, said Hossam Abou Moussa, Actis Director, based in Cairo.

During 2012 Actis completed four exits: South African industrials business Savcio; Ghana's first shopping mall, Accra Mall; Rwanda's second largest bank, BCR; and Tunisian conglomerate, Poulina. Actis also closed its second Africa Real Estate Fund, confirming its place as the largest private equity real estate investor on the continent. The fund has already committed to several developments, including what will become East Africa's largest retail centre, Garden City in Nairobi.

The Actis Energy team was also extremely active in Africa during 2012 with the expansion of Azito, its power plant in the Côte d'Ivoire; a successful tender process to construct three renewable energy projects in South Africa; and, perhaps most significantly, the oversubscribed IPO of Umeme, the national electricity distributor in Uganda. Actis also has extensive energy investments in Latin America and India.

Paul Fletcher, Senior Partner at Actis, said: "We are delighted that our work in the emerging markets has been recognised so resoundingly by PEI and Infrastructure Investor. This is the fifth time we have won the private equity award in Africa and is indicative of our overwhelming confidence in the continent and our commitment to building world-class African businesses."