Enexus acted as M&A advisor to Duval Group on the sale of its stake in Fondation et Forage d’Afrique (FFA) to the Adeoti Group

M&A Advisor FFA

Fondation et Forage d’Afrique (FFA) is a leading African engineering and construction company specializing in technical drilling, special foundations, and water infrastructure. Through its operations across several African countries, FFA has built a strong reputation for delivering complex geotechnical works, hydraulic drilling, and mining exploration services for both public and private sector clients.

As part of the continued development of FFA, Groupe Duval decided to transfer its stake to Adeoti Group, a well-established local construction and civil engineering company. This transaction will enable FFA to pursue its growth under a strong regional industrial partner, while benefiting from Adeoti Group’s deep knowledge of local infrastructure markets and its expertise in large-scale public works projects across West Africa.

About Duval Group

Groupe Duval is a French family-owned investment and real estate group founded in 1994 by Éric Duval and headquartered in Paris. Originally focused on real estate development, the Group has expanded into multiple sectors including property development and operations, tourism residences, golf management, and impact investments such as microfinance, insurance, food, and renewable energy. Operating across Europe, Africa, and Asia, Groupe Duval employs around 6,000 people worldwide.

About FFA

FFA is an African engineering and construction company specializing in technical drilling, special foundations, and water supply infrastructure. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Togo, the company operates across several African countries – including Benin, Cameroon, Senegal, Congo, and Gabon – delivering geotechnical works, hydraulic drilling, and mining exploration services for complex infrastructure and water access projects. FFA is part of the Groupe Duval ecosystem and works with both institutional and private clients to implement turnkey projects across the continent.

About Adeoti Group

The Adeoti Group is a family-owned Beninese construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Cotonou. Founded in 1992 by engineer Yaya Salami Adeoti, the company specializes in road construction, public works, and quarry operations for aggregates and granite used in infrastructure projects. Over the years, it has grown into one of the established local BTP contractors in Benin, contributing to major infrastructure and public works projects across the country.

Baobab

Acquisition of baobab

Bridging regions, expanding inclusion: Beltone’s acquisition of Baobab Group

From a bold vision to continental leadership

Founded in 2005 under the name MicroCred, Baobab Group has become Africa’s leading microfinance platform. Through disciplined organic growth — opening subsidiaries rather than acquiring them — the Group now operates in seven countries across the continent, from Senegal to Madagascar.

Over the past two decades, Baobab has remained focused on its mission: empowering micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which form the backbone of African economies. By combining proximity lending with digital innovation, the Group has expanded access to finance for hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs traditionally excluded from formal banking. Today, Baobab serves over 500,000 active clients with a loan portfolio exceeding €750 million — a remarkable achievement built on operational discipline, risk management, and local insight.

Orchestrating transaction complexity

To open a new chapter in its development, Baobab welcomed Beltone Holding — one of MENA’s fastest-growing financial groups — as its new majority shareholder. The transaction brings together Africa’s largest microfinance institution and a powerful investor from the Gulf, combining operational expertise with financial strength and regional connectivity.

Behind this milestone was a complex, multi-stakeholder M&A process. Enexus acted as lead M&A advisor to a consortium of four Baobab shareholders: AXA Group, a founding investor since 2005; the Africa-focused private equity fund Apis Growth Fund II; the Nordic development finance institution Abler Nordic; and a fourth institutional investor. Each shareholder had a distinct profile and set of objectives. Achieving alignment among them required careful coordination, consensus-building, and strategic negotiation. Enexus played a central role in structuring discussions, reconciling expectations, and ensuring all parties converged on a common transaction framework.

Preparing the Group for new investors also involved significant groundwork. With the assistance of Enexus, Baobab completed two strategic divestitures: its exit from China in October 2024, which lifted a key structural constraint for Africa-focused investors, and the sale of Baobab+, its solar home systems subsidiary, finalized earlier that same year. These steps refocused Baobab on its core financial services business and paved the way for a streamlined transaction, but involved a complex coordination between all the three transactions. The process also required regulatory and competition clearances across several banking jurisdictions. Managing this complex web of approvals required a close coordination among all stakeholders and demonstrates Enexus’  expertise in navigating cross-border regulatory landscapes, as well as its capacity to deliver complex transactions across multiple African jurisdictions. 

Redefining Africa’s financial inclusion landscape

Beyond its technical achievement, this transaction carries strong strategic and symbolic significance. It marks the change of control of Africa’s leading microfinance institution, a rare event that underscores the growing maturity and attractiveness of African financial services. It also represents one of the most significant investments from Gulf countries into Sub-Saharan Africa’s impact finance sector. Through Beltone — backed by Chimera and ultimately by IHC, the Abu Dhabi royal family’s investment vehicle — the transaction channels private capital from the Gulf into African inclusive finance at unprecedented scale. It highlights a shift from traditional development finance toward sustainable, market-led impact investment.

For Baobab, this partnership opens new opportunities to accelerate its digital transformation, expand its product offering, and reach more entrepreneurs and small businesses. For its clients, it means broader access to affordable, technology-driven financial services. And for Africa’s financial ecosystem, it sets a precedent: demonstrating that inclusive finance can attract global investors while preserving its social mission, reinforcing momentum in cross border investment africa and long-term growth capital africa.

By bringing together Baobab’s operational excellence, Beltone’s capital strength, and the coordinated effort of four international shareholders, this transaction — led by Enexus — stands as a landmark for African microfinance. It shows how alignment, trust, and collaboration can bridge regions and drive lasting, inclusive growth across the continent.

Enexus acted as M&A advisor to Axa, Apis Partners, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Abler Nordic on the majority sale of their shareholdings in Baobab to Beltone Holding, bringing deep Africa-focused deal execution expertise to the transaction

Sale of Baobab Group

Baobab is the leading financial services provider dedicated to supporting small businesses across Africa. By leveraging data and digital technologies, the company broadens access to finance for those underserved by traditional banks. Its comprehensive product suite empowers SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs to grow and thrive, driving economic development across the continent.

To pursue this success story, Baobab’s majority shareholders, including Axa, Apis Partners, the EIB and Abler Nordic, decided to sell their controlling stake to Beltone. This transaction will further enhance Baobab’s ability to expand financial inclusion in Africa by unlocking new opportunities for innovation, digital transformation and sustainable growth leveraging on Beltone’s resources.

About Baobab

Founded in 2005, Baobab Group is a leading microfinance institution serving over 500,000 SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs through its seven subsidiaries (Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, DRC and Madagascar). It offers a comprehensive range of products including MSME loans, savings solutions, and mobile payments.

About Axa Group

AXA Group is a global leader in insurance and asset management, serving over 95 million clients across 50 countries. AXA provides a comprehensive range of financial protection and investment solutions, including life and health insurance, property and casualty coverage, and asset management services.

About Apis Partners

Apis Partners is an ESGI-native private equity and venture capital asset manager that supports growth-stage financial services and technology businesses globally by providing them with catalytic growth equity capital. Collectively Apis manages or advises an asset base totalling c.$2.3bn.

About Abler Nordic

Abler Nordic (formerly Nordic Microfinance Initiative) was established in Oslo in 2008 as a public-private partnership investing in Africa and Asia, in companies that offers financial services to low-income households. Abler Nordic currently manages six funds, with total commitments of $470 million.

About the European Investment Bank (EIB) 

The EIB is the European Union’s long-term lending institution, providing financing and expertise to support investment projects in Europe and internationally. Through its activity in emerging markets, the EIB helps mobilize long-term capital for infrastructure and private-sector development, supporting cross border investment Africa. The EIB also works alongside partners to strengthen access to finance and accelerate cross-border investment in Africa across priority sectors.

About Beltone

Beltone Holding is a leading financial services platform in the MENA region listed on the Cairo Stock Exchange. Its diverse offerings include brokerage, asset management, and non-banking financial services. Beltone is majority-owned by Chimera Investment LLC, part of Abu Dhabi’s Royal Group through IHC, the second largest listed group in the Middle East.

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 M&A advisor to Kibo Capital Partners and Proparco, both active private equity investors in Africa, on the sale of their shares in I&M Tanzania

m&a advisor kibo

About I&M Tanzania

I&M Tanzania is one of the best-performing Tier 2 banks in the country, with total assets exceeding TZS 800bn and a client base of 20,000+. Focused on delivering high-end financial services to medium and large corporates, the bank is on a steady trajectory toward Tier 1 status. The bank leverages its integration within the I&M network to provide cross-border banking solutions, facilitating regional trade and capital flows between Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. https://imbank.co.tz/

About I&M Group 

I&M is a leading East African financial services group listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Headquartered in Kenya with a presence in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mauritius, the group is supported by major international development finance institutions, including BII, Proparco, DEG, FMO and IFC. https://www.imbankgroup.com/

About Kibo Capital Partners

Kibo Capital Partners is a private equity firm investing in growth companies in Eastern and Southern Africa, as well as in the Indian Ocean.

About Proparco

Proparco is a subsidiary of the French Development Agency group and has been providing equity and debt financing to the private sector in Africa for over 45 years. https://www.proparco.fr/en

Castel

From a multinational group to a leading regional player: the sale of Castel’s mineral water operations in Côte d’Ivoire to Groupe Carré d’Or

The right buyer for a valuable asset

Founded in 1949, Castel Group is one of Africa’s leading producers and distributors of beer and soft drinks. Through its Ivorian subsidiary Solibra, Castel has supplied the local market with bottled water for over 20 years, becoming the second-largest player with its two brands, Awa and Cristaline. In 2021, Solibra decided to refocus on its core business and divest its water bottling activity, consistent with Castel’s ambition to separate its operations from plastic packaging and prioritize glass packaging. In this context, Castel mandated Enexus as the exclusive financial advisor to run a full-fledged M&A process.

Established in 1988, Carré d’Or is one of the largest private groups in Côte d’Ivoire. Over the years, it has become a key player in the agro-food industry, following a consistent long-term strategy oriented toward the entire food and beverage value chain. The sale of Solibra’s water business presented Carré d’Or with the opportunity to strengthen its presence in the beverage sector.

Thanks to a robust offer, Carré d’Or successfully completed the acquisition of Solibra’s water bottling business in April 2023, marking an important milestone in Côte d’Ivoire’s beverage-industry mergers and acquisitions.

A full carve-out

Originally integrated within Solibra’s broader operations, the water bottling activity was fully carved out as part of the sale process. While this added complexity to the transaction, the combined experience of both Castel Group and Carré d’Or ensured a seamless transition, with Enexus acting as the intermediary to manage stakeholder alignment, carve-out readiness, and transaction mechanics.

An important transaction for the ivorian beverage industry

The bottled water market in Côte d’Ivoire has doubled over the past decade and continues to grow rapidly driven by urbanization and rising living standards. As the urban middle class expands, demand for quality water is increasing, with particular attention to health and well-being. Carré d’Or is committed to dedicating the necessary resources to address this growing demand. As a local player focused on the food and beverage value chain in Côte d’Ivoire, the group deemed it essential to reinforce bottled water into its development strategy.

NETIS

Supporting the rise of a pan-African champion: the successful acquisition of the Netis Group by a consortium comprising Amethis, AfricInvest, Proparco, and IFC

A consortium of leading financial investors backing a high-growth telecom leader

Over the past fifteen years, Netis has undergone a remarkable transformation. Founded in 2009 to serve its first clients in Ghana, the Group initially focused on providing telecom equipment to tower operators (“TowerCos”). Since then, it has established itself as a leading provider of telecom network services across Africa, with operations in 14 countries in West and East Africa and more than 3,200 employees. Today, Netis is one of the continent’s key players in the installation and maintenance of telecom tower and fiber-optic networks.

In 2018, Enko Capital Managers acquired a minority stake in Netis through the Enko Africa Private Equity Fund (“EAPEF”), which targets mid-sized African companies. This investment was increased in 2020, giving Enko a majority shareholding. Over its five years as a shareholder, Enko played a pivotal role in scaling up the Group’s operations.

With nearly €3 billion raised and invested over the past three decades, Amethis and AfricInvest rank among Africa’s most influential private equity investors. Partnering with two leading development finance institutions, IFC and Proparco, they formed the ideal consortium to complete one of the largest private equity transactions in Africa in 2023.Enexus acted as the lead M&A advisor to support the structuring of this complex acquisition.

A large-scale and demanding acquisition

Acquisitions of this scale by financial investors remain rare in Africa. Netis’s geographic footprint, spanning 14 jurisdictions across both Anglophone and Francophone Africa, added further complexity to the transaction. Few buyers combine the financial capacity and the operational expertise required to successfully execute such a project.

To generate sufficient competitive traction, it was essential to structure the process in a way that encouraged the formation of consortiums capable of competing with individual buyers. The founders’ decision to remain minority shareholders also represented a key challenge: their interests had to be aligned with those of both the sellers and the acquirers. This delicate balance, which required intense negotiations and a disciplined M&A process, proved decisive to the success of the transaction.

The birth of an African multinational?

The absence of succession planning among founders remains one of the main obstacles of the growth of independent African companies. Transforming a family-owned business into a multinational requires a gradual transfer of control while ensuring the financial support necessary to remain independent.

This transaction achieved precisely that. The founders of Netis successfully guided the company’s evolution from a single-client telecom equipment supplier in Ghana to a diversified telecom services group operating across 14 countries. Now backed by strong financial shareholders, they have the resources to continue expanding autonomously and reach a new stage in their development.

The transaction also reflects the growing maturity of the African telecom sector, where demand for connectivity continues to rise rapidly. With the support of its new partners, Netis is well positioned to play a central role in this dynamic, and perhaps to become one of the first truly pan-African multinationals in telecom services. 

Enexus acted as M&A advisor to Air Liquide, the world leader in industrial and medical gases, on the sale of its Nigerian subsidiary to Oak Heirs Ltd as part of its portfolio restructuring in Africa

M&A Advisory Air Liquide

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. In Nigeria, Air Liquide is a major industrial and medical gases company and was listed on the Nigerian stock exchange.

Air Liquide completed the sale of its subsidiary in Nigeria to Oak Heirs Ltd, a Nigerian family trust. This M&A transaction enables Oak Heirs to invest in the Nigerian subsidiary and develop additional production capacities to meet the growing demand for industrial gases, particularly in Port Harcourt where the company is a key supplier to the Oil & Gas industry. 

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 Oak Heirs Ltd.

Oak Heirs Ltd. is a Nigerian family trust founded and managed by Gbotemi Kuti, a seasoned entrepreneur who is already invested into several sectors such as real estate and childcare in Nigeria and North America.

Enexus acted as M&A advisor to Baobab in the sale of Baobab+ to Biolite

Sale of Baobab +

Baobab+ is the leading off-grid energy access company operating across Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Madagascar. To date, the company has empowered over 425,000 households with solar energy solutions, positively transforming the lives of more than 2.5 million people. In addition to its primary mission, Baobab+ promotes digital inclusion and has equipped over 263,000 customers across its markets with smartphones and other digital devices, primarily through pay-as-you-go financing plans.

Over the past six years, BioLite has served as Baobab+’s primary supplier and strategic partner for off-grid solar products. This acquisition strengthens that relationship and will enable Baobab+ to leverage BioLite’s technological expertise and operational strengths, accelerating innovation and sustainable growth in renewable energy solutions across Africa.

About Baobab+

Founded in 2015, Baobab+ is a social enterprise that supports households and entrepreneurs in their energy autonomy through the distribution of solar kits across Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Madagascar. In addition to this primary vocation, Baobab+ offers digital devices for educational and professional purposes. These products benefit from financing facilities to make them accessible to all.

About Baobab

Founded in 2005, Baobab Group is a leading microfinance institution serving over 500,000 SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs through its seven subsidiaries (Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, DRC and Madagascar). It offers a comprehensive range of products including MSME loans, savings solutions, and mobile payments.

About Biolite

BioLite is a social enterprise that develops and distributes off-grid energy products for people living beyond the traditional grid. Serving outdoor and home uses, in both mature and emerging markets, the self-reliant energy company has reached over 14.6 million users with innovative power, lighting, and cooking solutions.