Private Equity Africa is delighted to announce the winners of its maiden awards. The accolades are the first and only awards to solely focus on Africa’s private equity industry.
The cream of Africa’s private equity industry gathered at the Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf in London last Thursday evening, to celebrate best in class GPs and Advisors for their achievements in the decade up to 2011.
Dinner guests were treated to a humorous and thought-provoking keynote address from Lord Simon Cairns, Co-founder & Director, Commonwealth Business Council, who touched on the importance of recognizing the industry’s achievements. The dinner followed the Private Equity Africa LP Summit, held at Thomson Reuters. The combined event had almost 190 registered attendees.
Helios and Citadel Capital walked away with the most awards, with Helios winning a double portfolio award for Equity Bank, in the areas of Development and Social Impact. Citadel won the Portfolio Turnaround Award for Rift Valley Railways (RVR), while also receiving the Mid-Cap Landmark Deal award for Tawazon. Citadel Capital was also awarded a special recognition accolade for its work in the development of the private equity industry in North Africa.
The Pan-Africa House special recognition award went to Actis for having allocated the most capital across Africa. Also recognized as cornerstone GPs were Emerging Capital Partners for Sub-Saharan Africa private equity development, while Aureos Capital was honored for its work in the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment. The SME space also saw TLG Capital walk away with the Small Cap Landmark Deal accolade for Quality Chemicals.
Full List of Winners
PORTFOLIO AWARDS
Turnaround: Citadel Capital – Rift Valley Railways
Development Impact: Helios – Equity Bank
Social Impact: Helios – Equity Bank
Governance: Chayton Capital – Chobe Agrivision
ADVISOR AWARDS
Transaction Services: Clifford Chance
Fund Services: Uteem Chambers
LANDMARK DEAL AWARDS
Small Cap Deal: TLG Capital – Quality Chemicals
Mid Cap Deal: Citadel Capital – Tawazon
Large Cap Deal: Africa Capital Alliance – Union Bank
SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARDS
Actis – Pan-African House
Emerging Capital Partners – Sub-Saharan Africa House
Citadel Capital – North Africa House
Aureos Capital – SME Dealmaking
Methodology
The Landmark Deals, Portfolio and Advisor Services winners were selected by a panel of judges, from a list of 23 nominees. The nominees had been set apart by the London Business School Coller Institute of Private Equity and the Africa Club, and were picked from a shortlist of 44 entries. The shortlist was made up of a combination of self entries, Preqin shortlists and Private Equity Africa editorial recommendations.
The special recognition awards were awarded internally by Private Equity Africa, and were based on deal volumes and aggregate investment values, primarily based on data provided by Preqin.
Our Judges
Rory Ord – Head of Private Equity, Riscura
Matthew Craig-Greene – Associate Director, Templewood
Jean-Luc Koffi Vovor – Founder, Kusuntu
Peter Guest – Africa & Frontier Markets Journalist
John Rowland – Managing Partner, White Lake
Tom Minney – CEO, African Growth Partners
Luca Del Conte – Independent Consultant
Lisa Lambie – Executive Director, Satatt Holdings
Awards Honorary Chair
Lord Simon Cairns, Co-founder & Director, Commonwealth Business Council
Awards Executive Chair
Gail Mwamba, Managing Editor, Private Equity Africa
Awards Director
Richard Tandoh, Publisher, Private Equity Africa
Awards Coordinator
Adeola Dosunmu, Head of Research, Private Equity Africa
