By THE AFRICA BAZAAR Staff Writer
2014
Private equity firm The Abraaj Group said Monday it has exited its investment in Fibrex, an Angolan plastic-pipes manufacturer.
This is the firm’s first exit deal in Angola.
Abraaj invested in Fibrex in 2007 through one of its funds and revamped the company’s production facilities over the course of the investment to increase production volume result by over 70 percent.
Abraaj’s hands-on-management led to an upgrade in energy supply infrastructure, improved governance, accounting and reporting standards and increased environmental efficiency in the company.
Speaking about the firm’s latest move, Sandeep Khanna, managing director at The Abraaj Group, said she believes Fibrex was not only well-positioned to capitalize on the wide-scale infrastructure development of Angola, but also presented impressive growth rates sustained by its ability to retain its market-leading position despite increasing competition from new foreign entrants.
“Fibrex remains in a strong position today to capture the continued growth of the construction industry as Angolans and the African continent more broadly seek to address their infrastructure needs,” said Khanna.
She added that the firm’s successful experience with the company and in Angola has also strengthened its confidence in the country’s investment opportunities and boosted its search for local Angolan business partners.
Davinder Sikand, partner and head of Sub-Saharan Africa at The Abraaj Group, noted that the firm’s understanding of the continent and its use of on-the-ground teams have allowed it to penetrate relatively untapped markets such as Angola’s construction plastic industry.
“We initiated our investment in Fibrex based on Angola’s strong macroeconomic conditions.
The country, focused on rehabilitating its national infrastructure, showed rapid GDP growth and demonstrated significant demand for quality construction-related material and products which has helped Fibrex attain a market leading position in the country.”
The Abraaj group has been investing in Africa for the past two decades and deployed $2.6 billion in the continent across 80 investments.
