Thread by @ugodre

Good evening everyone and happy new year. Welcome to our first @Nairametrics Corporate News thread for the year. This thread is BTU by @BluechipTechNG

Thread Starts here.

On this thread, we are going to be reviewing some of the major corporate deals that took place in 2018 from a Nigerian perspective. We will also provide relevant links for those who may want to have a deepdive.

Please feel free to comment, retweet and contribute as the tweets roll in. It might be a long night so please be patient. If you can't wait then subscribe to our Newsletter to get an even more comprehensive report with more background info. This will be out before Friday.

We begin.....#TopNaijaCorporatedealsof2018

January

1. The year started with news that Milost Global acquired the entire stake in Primewaterview Holdings Nigeria Limited, at $1 billion.

In 2017, Milost Global had provided a $5m facility to Primewaterview, a subsidiary of Primewater Holdings, for various projects. Primewaterview founder, Adetunji Ogunwusi, would later step down as Chairman and CEO, while Milost and Isilo appointed a new management team.

This was surely not the last of Milost.

See link
nairametrics.com/milost-global-…

In February

2. Zinox Group, popularly known for its information communication technology driven innovative solutions, acquired Konga, one of the largest e-Commerce sites in Nigeria.

The news was confirmed as Sim Shagaya, founder and Chairman of Konga sent Leo Stan Ekeh of Zinox Group his good wishes.

Techies around the country were shocked to the core considering how much of a model for success Kong was.

There is still no official statement on how much this deal cost, but speculations suggest that it was around $100m. Zinox have also been acquiring warehouses around the country as they push on to revamp the entire business model.

See link nairametrics.com/zinox-technolo…

3. Japaul Oil and Maritime Services Plc announced that it had signed a $350 million financing agreement with Milost Global Incorporated. The financing was arranged and negotiated by Palewater Advisory Group Inc in New York and Banklink Africa Limited in Nigeria.

The funds would be injected into the company, with a focus on its mining operations.  At the time the deal was announced Japaul shareholders breathed a sigh of relief considering that the company was technically bankrupt.

Who knew at the time that this was the start of a major controversy.

See link ===> nairametrics.com/japaul-maritim…

March

4. Terragon, Africa’s leading mobile marketing company, announced that it closed a $5 million funding round led by Africa-focused TLcom Capital, with participation from other undisclosed investors.

The company announced that the funding would be used to further develop its proprietary marketing technology which connects online and offline mobile channels to provide African brands and SMEs with more customer reach, engagement and conversions with self-service access.

See link to the story ==> nairametrics.com/terragon-raise…

5. The Milost whirlwind continued with Unity Bank Plc, responding to the alleged termination of a $1 billion investment by Milost Global a private equity firm.

This followed a BusinessDay story that rattled the company forcing them to issue a statement. See link

nairametrics.com/unity-bank-rea…

6. Undeterred In a notice sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Resort Savings and Loans announced a financing agreement with Milost Global.

As part of terms of the agreement, Milost was to invest $250 million in the bank, comprising $100 million as equity capital and $150 million as debt. 
 
nairametrics.com/resort-savings…

April

6. In a sign of what was to come later in the year, Diamond Bank Plc announced the sale of its UK subsidiary, Diamond Bank (UK) Plc, to Wyelands Trust, a member of the GFG Alliance. The bank will be renamed British Commonwealth Trade Bank (BTCB).

The acquisition was the second by GFG in the British financial services space. Liberty Group, a member of the GFG Alliance bought Tungsten Bank in November 2016, subsequently renaming it to Wyelands Bank.

nairametrics.com/sanjeev-gupta-…

7. In a notice sent to the NSE back in February, UAC of Nigeria Plc notified the Exchange and other stakeholders that 3 parties had taken up significant stakes in the firm. The 3 firms were Blakeney GP 111 Ltd, Stanbic Nominees Limited, and Themis Capital Management.

While Themis Capital has just 8% of the company’s issued share capital, sources suggest that the private equity firm could have a controlling stake in the firm through other holding vehicles. 

nairametrics.com/can-themis-afr…

May

This was quite a busy month for deals.

8. In another Milost coated deal, Century Petroleum confirmed that it had entered into a binding letter of agreement with Ibeto Cement Company Limited.

According to reports by Nasdaq, with the signing of the letter of agreement, Chief Cletus Ibeto, the billionaire owner of the Ibeto Group, has acquired 70% stake in Century Petroleum Corp.

While, Mandla J. Gwadiso, the newly appointed Chairman and CEO of Century Petroleum Corp has stepped down and Dr. Cletus M. Ibeto has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board. 

nairametrics.com/century-petrol…

9. As expected Japaul Oil and Gas announced its plans to pull out of the equity financing facility $350 million with Milost Global Inc.

In a statement signed by the company’s Acting Managing Director, Akin Oladapo, it noted that in view of the several red flags associated with the planned equity injection, the company had decided to pull out of the deal.

The handwriting was surely on the wall from the moment the deal was announced. Japaul was quite pained as a lot had been put into closing out this deal. Japaul never recovered from this. We hope they do this year.

nairametrics.com/japaul-finally…

10. Dufil Nigeria Limited, the maker of Indomie Noodles and other packaged food products in Nigeria, acquired May & Baker’s food line for ₦775m. The acquisition, which happened in the later part of the previous month, gave Dufil ownership right to the Mimee Noodles brand

The acquisition process was finalised on April 26th, 2018 after all the necessary approvals were given by the companies’ boards of directors, their respective shareholders, and the Nigerian Stock Exchange. 
 
nairametrics.com/dufil-acquires…

11. Nigeria’s Piggybank.ng, an online and mobile app savings platform targeted at African Millennials, announced that it closed a seed funding round of $1.1M, from high net worth individuals.

The transaction was led by Olumide Soyombo, founder of LeadPath Nigeria and also @BluechipTechNG , and with participation from International and Pan-African investors Village Capital and Ventures Platform.

The company at the time said it planned to deploy the VC investment for license acquisition and product development.

Piggybank.ng had recorded 20 – 35% m-o-m growth in user traction over the past 12 months; primarily from peer-to-peer recommendations, its referral program – Piggybank Stories, and grass-roots social media campaigns. 

nairametrics.com/piggybank-ng-s…

As others were reeling off botched Milost deals Ibeto Cement Company Limited reportedly executed a Milost Equity Subscription Agreement (MESA) with Milost Global Inc.

The binding agreement was for a $850 million financing, of which $500 million was in equity and $350 million debt.

The cement company also started the process of going public with a reverse merger in the United States, in efforts to become a publicly traded company.

nairametrics.com/century-petrol…

12. Rise Fund, the impact fund run by private equity group TPG Growth, announced its first investment in Africa with a $47.5m deal to acquire an unspecified stake in Kenyan digital payments firm, Cellulant.

According to Rise Fund, the deal was the largest involving a fintech company with a business only in Africa which also included Endeavour Catalyst, Satya Capital, and Velocity Capital. Cellulant was founded in 2004 with operations in Kenya and Nigeria.

It now works in 11 countries with 94 banks and seven mobile money platforms that have a combined potential customer base of 130m with focus on e-commerce and mobile payments. 
 
nairametrics.com/tpg-invests-47…

13. Kellogg’s also revealed plans to expand its interest in business partnerships with Tolaram in West Africa. The company announced that it was investing a total of about $420 million in addition to its joint-venture equity interests.

Kelloggs-Tolaram Nigeria Limited is a joint venture between the Kellogg’s and the Tolaram group. The joint venture was established in 2016 to develop snacks, breakfast foods, and noodles across the West African region.

As part of the agreement, Kellogg’s also acquired a 50% stake in Multipro- the largest distributor of food products in the sub-region. 
 
It also has a right to acquire a stake in Tolaram Africa Foods (which holds a 49% stake in Dufil Prima foods).

Kelloggs had a very busy year

nairametrics.com/kellogg-invest…

June 2018

14. Internet giant, Naspers, announced that it was investing $89 million in the C stage funding round for Frontier Car Group. Frontier is an online and offline retailer of used cars.

The investment was made through its early stage investment arm, OLX Ventures. Frontier had plans to use the proceeds to expand into new markets and enhance cash services for users.

Frontier currently has operations in Nigeria, Mexico, Chile, Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia. 

nairametrics.com/naspers-invest…

15. Leapfrog Investments an emerging market (EM) focused private equity fund, announced that it had taken up a stake in ARM Pension Managers. Terms of the deal, however, were not disclosed.

The firm reportedly acquired the stake held by Helios another private equity firm. Helios bought a minority stake in ARM Pensions for $50 million in 2014.
 
nairametrics.com/leapfrog-takes…

16. The Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc (also known as Sokoto Cement), announced a proposed merger with Kalambaina Cement.

As a consideration for the proposed merger, the shares of CCNN would be issued and allotted to all shareholders of Kalambaina Cement, subsidiary of BUA Cement, in exchange for their shares in Kalambaina Cement at an agreed ratio based on CCNN’s 30-day volume

weighted average closing price (VWAP) to June 22, 2018 of N25.99 per share. This meant that each shareholder in Kalambaina Cement would be entitled to 19,811,372 new ordinary shares of CCNN for every 100,000 shares of Kalambaina Cement.

There was a lot of push back about this transaction, as some shareholders of CCNN felt it was too costly for them. The deal eventually went through by the end of the year. 
 
nairametrics.com/ccnn-announces…

17. Strides Group apparently paid an undisclosed amount to acquire the mortgaged assets of troubled Rivers Vegetable Oil Company Limited (RIVOC).

A consortium of four banks – United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank GTBank) Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc – were led by UBA Capital Trustees during the signing of the deal. 
 
nairametrics.com/strides-group-…

18. Allianz Group announced the signing of an agreement to acquire an 8% stake in Africa’s leading reinsurer, Africa Re. Under the terms of the agreement, the total cash consideration payable at closing would amount to $81 million (or 69 million euros).

This transaction would make Allianz Group one of the largest shareholders in Africa Re.  
nairametrics.com/allianz-group-…

19. In a notice sent to the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Atlas Mara, the Pan African banking vehicle set up by Bob Diamond, announced that it had acquired an additional 1% stake in tier two lender, Union Bank.

This amounted to 280,956,166 shares. There was no disclosure on which investors the shares were bought from. Private equity firm, African Capital Alliance (ACA) also owns a stake in the bank.

In 2017, it spent $55 million on acquiring a 13% stake in Union bank from the Clermont group. The Clermont Group is part of the UGPL consortium that bought a majority stake from AMCON in 2012.

There is also rumour that a certain oil and gas billionaire might be acquiring shares in this company. Don’t quote us.

nairametrics.com/atlas-mara-rai…

We have come to the end of the first part of this thread.

The second and concluding part will be tweeted on Monday evening. Thanks at @BluechipTechNG for making this thread possible.

Thanks for all the retweets and comments. Do have a profitable week ahead.

*End*

Hello everyone, welcome to part 2 of our recap of all the major corporate deals of 2018. This is @Nairametrics thread BTU by @BluechipTechNG

We will continue from the second half of the year, starting from July 2018

As usual, kindly retweet the first tweet of this thread so others on your timeline may follow.

July 2018

20. Oranto Petroleum also announced that it acquired a 90% stake in two exploration blocks located onshore Zambia. The two oil blocks are Blocks 17 and 27.

This deal would increase the company’s operation to 12 jurisdictions and also raise its oil and gas licenses by two to 24. This new agreement would see ZCCM Investment Holdings control the remaining 10 percent stake on behalf of the Zambian Government.

The agreement also requires conducting geological and geophysical studies for the first two year period. 

nairametrics.com/oranto-petrole…

21. EFG Hermes, a leading financial services corporation in frontier&emerging markets (FEM), entered into a definitive sale & purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire 100% of Primera Africa, a top-ranked brokerage house in Nigeria. The company disclosed this in a press release.

The firm in June last year indicated interest in acquiring a firm in Nigeria. 
 
EFG Hermes would utilize its presence in Nigeria to serve both global and domestic investor appetite for opportunities in Africa’s largest economy.

Nigeria would also serve as a hub for expansion into West Africa, as EFG Hermes’ office in Kenya now does for the other side of the continent. 
nairametrics.com/efg-hermes-acq…

22. In the same month, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Aviance informed the investing community of a change in its shareholding structure and directorship.

Godsmart Nigeria Limited purchased a 16.7% stake in the firm from some shareholders, making it the largest single shareholder.  271.848 million shares valued at N1.787 billion exchanged hands in four deals.

The shares were traded at an average price of N6.52, a 73.4% premium over the company’s closing price of N3.76 per share. 

The stock is currently trading at N3.5

Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Aviance informed the investing community of a change in its shareholding structure and directorship. 

nairametrics.com/godsmart-niger…

August

23. Duet Private Equity (DPEL), a private equity firm, acquired a significant stake in Ajeast Nigeria, the Sub-Saharan Africa subsidiary of multinational beverage company, AJE Group.

DPEL reportedly invested over $50 million in the acquisition; a significant share would be allocated as growth capital. The investment was to be used to expand Ajeast’s presence in Nigeria. 
 
nairametrics.com/private-equity…

24. Eaton Acquisitions Limited, an investment company, revealed that it had increased its stake in NEM Insurance Plc to 9%, days after it announced the acquisition of 4% of the insurance company.

While the initial 130 million shares sold at ₦4 each, representing a premium of 40.35% against the closing share price of ₦2.85, the new shares were acquired at a lower value. NEM currently trades at N2.12 per share

Eaton also said that it was seeking to acquire up to 10% of the insurance company. The latest acquisition put it within a distance of its target.  During the week Nairametrics received scoop that a major investor had divested about 30% of the company.

Nem attracted a price bidding war during the year as shareholders jostled for majority ownership of one of the most profitable insurance companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

nairametrics.com/eaton-acqusiti…

25. Mines, a fintech startup re-inventing credit in emerging markets, announced that it closed a Series A round of $13M led by The Rise Fund, a global fund managed by TPG Growth.

Also joining in the transaction were are Velocity Capital, Western Technology Investments, First Ally Capital, X/Seed Capital, NYCA Partners, Persistent Capital, Singularity Investments, Trans Sahara Investments, and the Bank of Industry.

Mines planned to use its investment for talent acquisition, continued growth in Africa, and expansion to South America and South-East Asia.

nairametrics.com/mines-secures-…

26. Paystack, a Nigeria-based startup providing payments tools to businesses in Africa, also raised $8 million in Series A funding.

The round was led by Stripe, and includes Visa, follow-on funding from Tencent and Y Combinator, as well as angel investors Tom Stafford (Managing Partner at DST Global),

Gbenga Oyebode (founding partner of Aluko & Oyebode and Board member of MTN Nigeria), and Dale Mathias (Co-founder, Innovation Partners Africa).

This brings Paystack’s total investment to date to more than $10 million. Existing investors include Tencent, Y Combinator, Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund, Blue Haven Ventures, and Ventures Platform.

nairametrics.com/stripe-visa-jo…

27. Nigerian ISP start-up Tizeti and its consumer-facing brand, Wifi.com.ng announced that it closed a Series A round of $3M, led by 4DX Ventures with participation from existing investors Y Combinator Continuity,

Lynett Capital, Social Capital, Western Technology Investment, Friále and Golden Palm Investments. This follows on from the company’s Seed investment of $2.1M in 2017.

Tizeti said it would use this investment to expand operations outside of Nigeria, and will launch a new consumer-facing brand Wifi.Africa later this year, starting with neighbouring West African country, Ghana.

nairametrics.com/tizeti-secures…

August was quite a busy month for deals in Nigeria.

September

28. Union Bank of Nigeria announced the registration of a N100b Debt Issuance Program & the subsequent inaugural issuance of Series I and II Bonds under the newly registered Bond Program. At the conclusion of the Book Build, the N20 b issuance was 165% subscribed

The new funding was expected to support Union Bank’s loan book diversification efforts and provide further working capital. 
 
nairametrics.com/union-bank-rai…

29. Unity Bank Plc revealed plans to sell its N400 billion bad loans to new investors to clean up its balance sheet. This new move was to facilitate the injection of new cash into the bank.  The sale of bad loans to a new investor, Frontier Capital Alternative Asset Ltd,

would cut the ratio of non-performing loans to near zero from almost 50 percent and help to shore up Unity Bank’s liquidity. 
We can’t confirm if this deal eventually went through. 
 
nairametrics.com/unity-bank-to-…

October

30. During the month, we heard that Brazilian state-owned energy company, Petrobras, would most likely announce the sale of its stake in Petrobras Africa to Vitol.

Anonymous sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that Petrobras’ stake in the company would be valued at some $1.5 billion.

The year however closed without completion of this deal. With oil prices plummeting one wonders if there is still an appetite for this deal. 
nairametrics.com/vitol-is-now-p…

31. Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) announced that it had successfully acquired a credit facility, a $200m 5-year loan and a $100m 5-year stand-by facility, from the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM).

The acquired facilities which were for general corporate purposes marked AFC’s inaugural financing facility from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Before now AFC relied mostly on western finance to fund its operations. Is this a game changer? Are we about to see a less risk-averse and aggressive AFC?
nairametrics.com/cexim-supports…

32. May & Baker Nigeria Plc, which had earlier in the year sold its food business to Dufil, commenced rights issue of N2.45 billion in a bid to raise new capital.

The rights issue opened on Monday, October 22, and closed on Wednesday, November 28, 2018. The company planned to raise the new capital through new equity funds from existing shareholders

The company offered 980 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N2.50 per share to existing shareholders. The stock currently trades at N2.45 falling from a one year high of about N3.42.
nairametrics.com/may-baker-comm…

33. Flutterwave Inc announced the completion of its Series A Extension round of financing. Investors from this round of investment include Mastercard, CRE Ventures, Fintech Collective, 4DX Ventures, and Raba Capital, among others

Flutterwave has raised over $20 million to date while its largest investors include Green Visor Capital and Greycroft Partners. As investors digested this deal the company used the opportunity to announce a restructuring exercise that will see the current Green Visor Capital

Chairman & General Partner and former Chairman & CEO of Visa, Joe Saunders, joined the Flutterwave Board of Directors while Flutterwave Co-Founder, Olugbenga Agboola would replace Iyinoluwa Aboyeji who has stepped down as the CEO.

nairametrics.com/flutterwave-co…

November

34. A major shareholder in Ikeja Hotels Plc, OMA Investments Limited, acquired an additional stake in the hotel and leisure company from UBA Nominees Limited to become the single largest shareholder in the company.

In a notice to the NSE, Ikeja Hotel noted that OMA Investments acquired additional 279.10 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N2.05 per share in a deal valued at N572 million.

Following the transaction, OMA Investments Limited’s total shareholdings in Ikeja Hotel PLC is now 538,109,194 shares representing 25.89%.

OMA Investments Limited is an investment vehicle belonging to the late publisher of the Guardian Alex Ibru. His wife, Maiden Ibru currently holds control. 
nairametrics.com/oma-investment…

35. Actis and Westmont Hospitality Group acquired the 231-room Four Points by Sheraton in Victoria Island, Lagos

Four Points by Sheraton is a brand of hotels targeted towards business travelers and small conventions. It is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which is a subsidiary of Marriott International.

The group operates more than 300 hotels worldwide under the Four Points by Sheraton brand. 
nairametrics.com/actis-westmont…

36. Terragon, Africa’s leading data and marketing technology company, announced that it had acquired Bizense, a Singapore-based mobile technology company, in a cash plus stock deal which was the first of its kind and scale in Africa.

This deal would see Terragon control its intellectual property assets globally, enabling it further adapt and integrate its marketing technology software for financial services institutions and consumer brands across Africa. 
 
nairametrics.com/terragon-acqui…

37. Skyway Aviation Plc commenced an Initial Public Offer by way of sale. 406,074,000 ordinary shares were offered to the investing public at N4.65.   30% of the entire issued and fully paid-up ordinary shares were being offered in the first phase of the sale, while 19%

would  be offered at a later date.  SAHCO, is 100% owned by the SIFAX Group which bought the firm following a privatization exercise by the federal government.  
 
nairametrics.com/skyway-aviatio…

December

38. Perhaps the biggest deal this year, Diamond Bank Plc announced that it will be "merging" with Nigeria’s tier-1 lender, Access Bank Plc, to form  Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest retail bank.

The proposed merger, as we all know now, would involve Access Bank acquiring the entire issued share capital of Diamond Bank in exchange for a combination of cash and shares in Access Bank via a Scheme of Merger.

Based on the agreement reached by the boards of the banks, Diamond Bank shareholders will receive a consideration of N3.13 per share, comprising of N1.00 per share in cash and

N2.13 per share equivalent in newly issued shares of Access Bank to be exchanged for the outstanding shares of Diamond Bank. The offer represents a premium of 260% to the closing market price of N0.87 per share of Diamond Bank on the NSE as of December 13, 2018.

Since this transaction was announced Access Bank shares have tanked 28% while Diamond Bank has gained 118% in the same period. This is expected as shares of the target company typically rises while that of the acquirer drops.

nairametrics.com/diamond-bank-i…

39. To fund the Diamond Bank transaction, Access Bank will embark on a $200 million fundraising exercise to keep its capital well above the regulatory requirements. According to Financial Times, Access Bank intends to launch a subordinated rights issue.

Herbert Wigwe, CEO Access Bank, said that Diamond would write off all its bad loans before the merger goes through. Access Bank shares traded for N8.15 as at that time.
nairametrics.com/access-bank-to…

40. Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Limited (InfraCredit) closed a $25 million equity investment from Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the leading infrastructure development finance institution in Africa.

This automatically makes AFC, a shareholder in InfraCredit together with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

nairametrics.com/infracredit-ge…

41. Lafarge Africa Plc opened its ₦89.2 billion rights issue on Monday 17th December 2018. The offer will close on Wednesday 23rd January 2019. Proceeds will be used to pay down the company’s debt. 
nairametrics.com/lafarge-africa…

Other notable mentions during the year

42. Nigeria’s leading retail pharmacy and beauty outlet HealthPlus has announced a partnership with London-based private equity manager Alta Semper Capital.

The new partnership had Alta Semper investing US$18 million into HealthPlus, enabling the company to expand its retail footprint and enhance its competitive position. It currently has approximately 80 locations across the country. nairametrics.com/healthplus-sec…

43. The mobile-first consumer feedback platform for businesses and consumers in Africa mSurvey also announced a Series A funding round of $3.5 million,

the new funding led by Africa-focused venture firm TLcom Capital with investment from Social Capital, Kapor Capital Palm and Richard Owen, the founding team of Net Promoter Score (NPS).

The investment is expected to enable the company to continue building out its infrastructure and partnerships, in order to scale and expand into more African countries.

This follows seed investment rounds from Cross Culture Ventures, Alpha Angels and Safaricom’s Sparking Venture Fund. nairametrics.com/msurvey-secure…

44. Asoko Insight also announced the completion of its $3.6 million Series-A fundraising round.

Asoko Insights said it planned to use the new funding to deepen its product offering to compliance professionals, expand its African footprint and build on its technology to support scaling data collection, analysis, and delivery.

The new fund-raising followed a strong 2017 for the company in which both the number of companies and countries covered doubled and global players including Goldman Sachs, UBS, HB Fuller and Deloitte subscribed to its platform. nairametrics.com/mortgage-refin…

45. Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) has announced the completion of an N11 billion 13.8 percent Series 2 Bond Issuance under its N440 billion Medium Term Note Programme.

We also learnt that the Series 2 Bond was subscribed by over 200 percent. Most of the subscribers were domestic investors with the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) representing over 70 percent of the investors.
nairametrics.com/mortgage-refin…

So, that's it. 45 of some of the biggest corporate deals of 2018 according to @Nairametrics BTU by @BluechipTechNG . A comprehensive Nairametrics DealBook cataloging all these deals will be published later this month.Also, watch out for our Quarterly DealBook starting April 2019

Special thanks to @BluechipTechNG for making this possible. Thanks for all the comments, retweets, and mentions. Until we do this again next time, enjoy the rest of your week.

*End*