National news
Consol Holdings announced that its shareholders have entered into a sale and purchase agreement with the Ardagh Group, a leading global supplier of glass and metal packaging.
The Ardagh Group intends to acquire 100% of the ordinary shares of Consol Holdings for an equity value of R10.1bn, which includes the company’s operations in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Completion of the acquisition is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals, which are expected to be obtained in the second quarter of 2022.
Once the transaction is approved, it will be an excellent strategic fit for Consol that enables continued growth on the African continent by leveraging off Ardagh’s proven glassmaking capabilities, technical expertise and international customer and supplier base.
Consol Holdings will await final regulatory approvals before offering any further comments or details on the proposed transaction.
Barclays acted as exclusive financial adviser to Consol and Citigroup acted as exclusive financial adviser to Ardagh.
Phatisa, together with management, acquired 100% of South African-based biotechnology company Deltamune from HL Hall & Sons Investments, for an undisclosed sum, in December 2021.
Established in 1995, Deltamune plays a trusted role in veterinary and public health, by developing and manufacturing vaccines used in production animals for the food market – particularly poultry. More recently, the company has expanded its vaccination range to address the ruminant market (cattle, sheep etc.).
It is anticipated that this buyout and capital injection will enable Deltamune’s continued innovation and growth into both production animal verticals, plus enable geographic expansion into the sub-continent.
International
Bloomberg reports that Helios Investment Partners LLP is in talks with African telecom operators and banks about ways the private-equity firm can help them cash in on their mobile-money and digital-payments platforms.
Africa’s largest wireless carriers, including MTN Group Ltd, and Airtel Africa Plc, are among companies exploring how to unlock value from their multi-billion dollar fintech operations. Johannesburg-based MTN is looking to finalize plans to spin off the lucrative unit by the end of March, while Airtel brought in Mastercard Inc as a minority investor in its mobile-finance division last year.
“There is a desire to carve out these businesses, and we have been in continuous dialogue with such players,” Helios co-founder and managing partner Tope Lawani said in an interview with Bloomberg in January, without naming specific firms. “Companies are trying to find ways of letting these units flourish, and not essentially be suffocated by the traditional parts of business.”
In line with the broader global M&A market, private equity firms around the world had an exceptionally busy 2021. Deal value soared to US$987.6 billion in the year, more than doubling what was an already high total of US$474.5 billion in 2020. This is now the highest value recorded for any year on Mergermarket record (since 2006). Volumes were also up significantly, rising 59 percent to 3,460 deals – again, a new annual record. Buyouts drove much of this increase, as aggregate deal value jumped 157 percent on 2020 totals to US$665.5 billion, with volumes rising 64 percent to 2,385 deals. This high level of activity reflects the significant stores of dry powder at private equity firms' disposal. Globally, this stood at US$2.3 trillion in August 2021, according to Preqin, with US firms holding approximately 50 percent of the total. In addition, thanks to the trend for co-investment by private equity fund investors – the limited partners – the industry's firepower is significantly larger than these figures suggest.