Air Liquide

Ensuring continuity and growth for essential industrial and medical gases in Africa: the divestment of Air Liquide’s 13-country network to Adenia and Oakheirs

A strategic refocus for a global leader with deep African roots

Air Liquide is a world leader in industrial and medical gases, operating in over 60 countries with 65,000 employees and revenues above €27 billion. Present in Africa for more than 90 years, the Group employed 1,600 people across 15 countries, serving both industrial and healthcare clients. As part of its Advance 2025 strategic plan, Air Liquide decided to divest its operations in 13 African countries. The objective was to find investors focused on the continent, able to invest and grow the business while maintaining long-term commercial ties. Air Liquide mandated Enexus as the exclusive M&A advisor to structure and execute this complex process. The transaction led to the sale of 12 subsidiaries to Adenia Partners, a leading pan-African private equity firm, and one subsidiary – Nigeria – to Oakheirs, a Nigerian family-owned investment group.

A complex carve-out across 13 countries

Executing the sale required managing one of the most intricate M&A carve-outs in Africa. The scope covered 13 countries with no pan-African holding structure nor consolidated reporting, six regulatory frameworks, two listed entities (Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire), a diversity of regulators, hard-to-access jurisdictions, and minority shareholdings. Shared group services across HR, IT, finance, and branding further complicated separation. Finding buyers able to navigate this complexity was demanding. Adenia, although a generalist private equity fund, demonstrated strong commitment to building an African industrial platform and investing for growth. Enexus played a key role throughout this M&A process: structuring a pragmatic phased carve-out plan, coordinating regulatory and stakeholder processes, negotiating with multiple bidders, and mitigating issues from minority shareholdings to operational continuity. This combination of rigorous structuring and hands-on coordination reflects Enexus’ approach to deal execution africa in complex multi-country environments. Ultimately, a dual-sale structure was achieved, balancing Air Liquide’s strategic objectives with buyers’ interests.

A new chapter for industrial and medical gases in Africa

After completion, Adenia rebranded its network as Erium, signaling a new phase of development. It announced an ambitious €30 million investment program to expand production and enhance efficiency, supported by long-term supply and technical cooperation agreements with Air Liquide. The transition ensures continuity for thousands of industrial and healthcare clients while unlocking local growth potential. For Air Liquide, it marks a successful realignment of its African portfolio and the transfer of operations to investors committed to sustainable expansion. Beyond corporate impact, the transaction carries strong economic and social value: improved availability and affordability of essential gases for hospitals and industries, strengthened local employment, and renewed investment capacity across 13 countries. It illustrates how a well-structured divestment can balance global strategy with regional development – guided by Enexus as the M&A advisor, and reflecting the growing sophistication of cross border investment in Africa.

Avisen

M&A transaction Avisen

Ensuring the succession of a local champion: the sale of Avisen to Olam Agri

A family-owned business at a turning point

Founded in 2000 by two veterinarians with a shared vision — to develop the animal feed industry and improve access to local sources of protein — Avisen has grown into a key player in Senegal’s poultry sector. From its modest artisanal beginnings, the company has become the country’s second-largest producer of poultry feed, manufacturing over 100,000 tons annually from its Rufisque plant. More recently, Avisen has expanded downstream with a modern slaughterhouse in Diamniadio, supplying high-quality poultry meat to the local market.

After more than two decades of growth, the founding shareholders, now nearing retirement, sought to pass the torch. Their ambition went beyond securing a fair valuation: they wanted a successor with the vision and resources to continue Avisen’s development, while staying true to its mission of providing reliable, affordable products to Senegalese farmers and consumers. To structure this transition and prepare the company for a competitive process, they mandated Enexus as the exclusive M&A advisor.

Bridging the gap between a family-owned SME and a listed multinational

The transaction posed multiple challenges. The founders, while highly skilled veterinarians and seasoned operators, had no prior M&A experience. Complex issues related to deal structuring, tax impacts, purchase price adjustments, liability guarantees, or due diligence preparation could easily have derailed the process. Enexus worked hand-in-hand with the sellers, mobilising external experts where needed, anticipating financial, legal and tax constraints, defining a balanced set of guarantees, and providing ongoing guidance to ensure that the shareholders were comfortable and confident throughout the process, in line with standard practices in sell-side M&A and financial advisory.

Uncertainty around whether to sell a minority or a majority stake further shaped the transaction. Enexus approached a wide range of investors, securing both minority and majority offers to provide the shareholders with maximum optionality, including interest from strategic buyers and private equity funds. Ultimately, Olam Agri — a listed multinational with a strong track record in Senegal and significant expertise in animal nutrition across West Africa — emerged as the natural acquirer.

To instill confidence, Enexus produced a professional and comprehensive suite of transaction materials (teaser, information memorandum, Dataroom), enabling Olam and other potential buyers to quickly assess Avisen’s strength and seriousness. Enexus also played a central role in the negotiations: with the sellers being francophone and Olam exclusively anglophone, we acted as mediator, translator and coordinator alongside legal advisors to ensure constructive dialogue and smooth deal execution.

Unlocking growth for Senegal’s poultry sector

Beyond the successful succession of a family-owned business, this transaction carries strong implications for Senegal’s poultry industry. Since the 2005 ban on imports of frozen chicken, the sector has boomed, largely driven by small family farms. In this context, access to affordable and reliable poultry feed is essential for food security, rural employment and the availability of animal protein.

With its industrial experience in Senegal and proven know-how in animal feed in Nigeria and beyond, Olam Agri is uniquely positioned to build on Avisen’s foundation and further expand production capacity. The transaction paves the way for increased local supply of poultry meat and eggs — the most affordable animal proteins in the country — directly contributing to improved food security and economic resilience in Senegal.

Enexus acted as exclusive M&A advisor to Air Liquide, the world leader in industrial and medical gases, on the sale of 12 subsidiaries in Africa to Adenia Partners through its fund Adenia Capital IV, a leading private equity fund in Africa

Sale of 12 Air Liquide subsidiaries

With a presence on the continent for over 90 years, 1,600 employees and 700 million euros invested in the last three years, Air Liquide is a major industrial and medical gas player in Africa.

Air Liquide completed the sale of its shareholdings in 12 subsidiaries across West Africa, Central Africa, and the Indian Ocean to Adenia IV, a private equity fund managed by Adenia Partners. With this acquisition, Adenia establishes itself as a leading player in the industrial gases sector in sub-Saharan Africa under a new brand, Erium. Erium now holds leading or significant market positions in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Togo. This African private equity investment provides the foundation for a pan-African industrial gases platform, preserving operational continuity while unlocking the capital required for long-term growth. . As part of the transaction, Air Liquide will retain an operational relationship with the divested entities through long-term supply agreements and technical support partnerships with Adenia.

About Air Liquide

Air Liquide is a global leader in gases, technologies, and services for the industrial and healthcare sectors. Operating in 60 countries, the Group employs over 65,000 people and generates more than €27 billion in revenue. Since its founding in 1902, Air Liquide has specialized in essential molecules such as oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, which are fundamental to industry and healthcare. Today, the Group serves over 4 million clients and patients worldwide.

About Adenia Partners

Adenia Partners is a private equity firm managing $880 million in assets, with over 20 years of commitment to responsible and sustainable investments in Africa. With a strong track record, Adenia Partners has raised 5 funds, completed over 30 investments, and successfully executed 18 exits.

Enexus acted as M&A advisor to Groupe Duval in the capital raising of its subsidiary Finafrica with Proparco

fundraising for Finafrica

Finafrica is the first microfinance network offering insurance products in Africa and aims to become a key player in financial and insurance inclusion in the continent. The company provides better protection for micro-entrepreneurs (including their households), a lower cost of credit for borrowers benefiting from insurance and a more controlled cost of risk for microfinance institutions. This investment – comprising an equity fundraise together with a convertible bond – will enable Finafrica to consolidate its growth and pursue its network expansion strategy across Africa, reinforcing its financial inclusion mission. 

About Finafrica

Founded in 2018, Finafrica is a subsidiary of Groupe Duval and is the first microfinance network offering insurance products in Africa. With its ten subsidiaries, Finafrica supports 1.2 million clients on a daily basis in five countries (Guinea, Cameroon, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Rwanda).

About Proparco

Proparco is a subsidiary of the French Development Agency group and has been working alongside the private sector for over 45 years with a diversified range of financial tools adapted to the company’s different stages of development.

Enexus acted as M&A advisor to the shareholders of Avisen in the full sale of their shares to Olam Agri, the leading food and agribusiness in Africa

Sale of Avisen to Olam Agri

Avisen’s story began in 2000 with the meeting of two veterinarians in Senegal, sharing a common idea: develop the animal feed industry to facilitate access to animal protein. Twenty years later, the modest initial artisanal unit has grown into Senegal second largest poultry feed manufacturer. Avisen now produces over 100,000 tons of feedstuff per year and processes broilers in its brand-new slaughterhouse.

To pursue this success story, the shareholders have decided to seek a successor able to take Avisen to the next stage while preserving the vision of the founders: to offer high-quality products at an affordable price for the benefit of Senegalese poultry growers and consumers

Following a comprehensive M&A process reaching out to a wide range of potential buyers, Avisen’s shareholders considered Olam Agri as the worthiest candidate. With its deep market knowledge, technical expertise, and financial capacities, Olam Agri possesses all the strengths needed to pursue Avisen’s development. Olam has indeed played a key role in the Senegalese wheat milling industry for nearly a decade and has gained a strong technical expertise in the animal feed industry as a leading producer in Nigeria.  

About Avisen

Created in 2000, Avisen is a Senegalese company manufacturing poultry feedstuff and poultry meat. Located in Rufisque, Avisen’s feed facility produces over 100,000 tons of poultry feedstuff yearly. Avisen also processes broilers into its brand-new slaughterhouse located in Diamniadio to produce chicken meat.

About Olam Agri

Olam Agri is a market leading, differentiated food, feed and fibre agri-business with a global origination footprint, processing capabilities and deep understanding of market needs built over 33 years. Olam Agri is at the heart of global food and agri-trade flows with 39.6 million MT in volume traded in 2023. Focused on transforming food, feed and fibre for a more sustainable future, it aims at creating value for customers, enable farming communities to prosper sustainably and strive for a food-secure future.  www.olamagri.com/

Enexus acted as fundraising advisor to Adenia Partners in the equity fundraising of its fifth vehicle, Adenia Capital V (AC(V)), from private investors

fundraising of Adenia Capital V

AC(V) continues Adenia’s long-term investment strategy of making control investments in medium-sized companies across Africa with proven business models that offer significant opportunities for operational and ESG improvements. The fund is sector-agnostic and larger than its predecessors, AC(IV) (EUR 230m) and AC(III) (EUR 95.8m), with a total size of USD 470m. This fundraising supports the expansion of Adenia’s private equity platform and long-term investment capacity across Africa.

About Adenia Partners

Adenia Partners is a private equity firm managing $880 million in assets, with over 20 years of commitment to responsible and sustainable investments in Africa. With a strong track record, Adenia Partners has raised 5 funds, completed over 30 investments, and successfully executed 18 exits.