DealMakers AFRICA unveils East Africa’s biggest deals, advisory firms in 2023

DealMakers AFRICA has unveiled the notable companies involved in mergers and acquisitions and their advisers in East Africa and West Africa in 2023.

It also tracked the work carried out by the advisers in the mergers and acquisition and general corporate finance space during the year under review.

It also ranked companies based on certain criteria including the value of deals or transactions and, the number of them.

Three categories including the Deal of the Year, the Private Equity Deal of the Year and the Individual DealMaker of the Year were determined subjectively with considerable circumspection.

Before the award, nominations were received from the advisory firms after which a team decided the winners based on criteria such as transformational elements, execution complexity, deal size and potential value creation.

For the Individual DealMaker, the deals worked on, the contribution made, the execution complexity and peer recognition were considered.

For the East Africa Deal of the Year category, three deals including The East Africa Device Assembly Kenya Joint Venture, the disposal of James Finlay Kenya to Browns Investments and the disposal by Bamburi Cement and Cementia of Hima Cement (Uganda) were shortlisted.

In the end, the acquisition by Browns Investments of James Finlay Kenya was named Deal of the Year.

The transaction will support the next growth phase of the company while at the same time benefiting the local community and contributing to the overall Kenyan economy.

The advisory firms that handled the deal were Bowmans and Addleshaw Goddard.

In the category of Private Equity Deal of the Year (East Africa), three deals including the exit by Maris and Nvision of a majority stake in Equator Energy to IBL Energy and STOA, the exit by Finnfund of its stake in Lake Turkana Wind Power to BlackRock and Ascent Capital Africa’s exit of its stake in Guardian Health were shortlisted.

In the end, Ascent Capital Africa’s exit of its stake in Guardian Health won the category.

During its six-year investment, Guardian Health scaled from a footprint of five stores to a chain of 19 stores in six districts. Its new shareholder boosted its largely underdeveloped online and telemedicine service.

Advisers behind the winning transaction were I&M Burbidge Capital, Clyde & Co and Bowmans.