EFG Hermes Head office – Press Photo
CAIRO – 19 July 2018: EFG Hermes announced Thursday entering a definitive sale and purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire a whole stake of a Nigerian brokerage company.
The company clarified that it will utilize its presence in Nigeria through Primera Africa, the company to be acquired, to serve both global and domestic investor appetite for opportunities in Africa’s largest economy.
Hermes expected the acquisition to be completed by August 31, based on the regulatory approval and the satisfaction of certain conditions.
“Nigeria will 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,” the company added in a statement.
The statement noted that Primera Africa offers a comprehensive suite of brokerage and research services to domestic and international investors from its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria.
“Upon completion of the acquisition, Primera Africa will operate under EFG Hermes’ brand name, bringing to the Nigerian market a track-record that has spanned more than 30 years of offering best-in-class financial services, award-winning research, and a large network of investors who consistently seek compelling opportunities in high growth markets,” Hermes stated.
“Nigeria is our fourth direct entry as we continue our strategy of expanding our geographic footprint in high-potential, frontier emerging markets,” EFG Hermes Holding Group Chief Executive Officer Karim Awad said. “At the close of this transaction, we will have a direct presence in 12 jurisdictions on four continents to serve our global institutional investors, regional high-net-worth individuals, and local retail investors.”
“We have been consistently focusing on ramping up our services in newly-entered markets, which resulted in the firm being ranked as the number one frontier market brokerage firm in the 2018 Extel Survey, advancing from the ninth place a year earlier. Most recently, the firm also concluded its advisory to international microfinance lender ASA International (ASAI), an entity with significant African presence, on its GBP 125 million initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange (LSE),” Awad added.
“Nigeria is Africa’s largest consumer market and is consistently among the three largest economies on the continent alongside Egypt and South Africa. On the capital markets’ front, it accounted for the largest share of our brokerage executions, and revenue among all frontier markets in which we indirectly executed during 2017,” Co-CEO of the Investment Bank at EFG Hermes Mohamed Ebeid said.
“We are entering a market that has a compelling story to tell investors. It is not just one of the largest and most economically diverse frontier markets globally; it is a growth story that has years to run after a series of structural reforms and a devaluation of the national currency. With oil prices now recovering, with significant portfolio inflows, and with the demonstrated ability to tap global debt markets, Nigeria will benefit from broad currency stability, we expect, remaining attractive in valuation terms at the same time,” said Ali Khalpey, London-based CEO of EFG Hermes Frontier.
Hermes entered during the past 12 months the markets of Pakistan, Kenya, and Bangladesh; in addition to receiving a recent regulatory approval from the FCA to operate in the United Kingdom out of its London office.
EFG Hermes’ consolidated profit marked an increase of 6 percent on a year-on-year basis during the first quarter of 2018, recording LE 249 million after tax and minority interest.
EFG Hermes is a public company, listed on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) since February 1999.
It operates within the diversified financial sector, focusing on investment banking and brokerage. It has 36 subsidiaries operating across the Caribbean, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. EFG Hermes is based in 6th October, Egypt and was established in January 1984.
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