ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Adenia, a leading private equity firm focused on growth opportunities in Africa, has finalized the sale of its 100% equity stake in OMOA Group (“OMOA”) to SPE Capital, a private equity firm focused on the Middle East and Africa. Founded in 1999, OMOA is the leading integrated service provider for the payments industry in West and Central Francophone Africa. The sale of OMOA is the eighth and final exit from Adenia’s €96 million fund Adenia Capital (III), which is now fully liquidated.
OMOA provides a comprehensive range of services throughout the payment value chain, including ATM Installation, ATM maintenance and software solutions, as well as processing and card personalization. OMOA serves a wide range of banks and microfinance institutions across 11 countries, employing 150 people.
Since acquiring OMOA in 2012 through its Adenia Capital (III) fund, Adenia has implemented a series of strategic value creation initiatives to transition OMOA’s business model towards more value-added services. This included the upgrade of its ATM offering, the development of new maintenance capabilities and the establishment of a unique processing and card personalization center in Lomé, Togo, which meets the highest industry standards. Adenia also recruited a new senior management team to support this growth strategy, institutionalize the company’s governance, strengthen its processes and implement its ESG action plan.
“Today, OMOA benefits from strong recognition across its markets, not only as an ATM distributor, but as a strong strategic partner for banks through the provision of tailor-made solutions across the entire payment value chain,” said Christophe Scalbert, Partner at Adenia. “Our journey with OMOA epitomizes what Adenia delivers through its majority ownership strategy: strong value creation through strategic repositioning, bold investment strategies and firm alignment with all stakeholders. We are confident that SPE will provide valuable support for OMOA’s talented teams as the company enters the next phase of its growth. We are also thrilled to complete the final exit from our third fund.”
“Embracing and supporting the digitalization of the African payment landscape has been key to protect and consolidate our leadership position,” said OMOA CEO Bart Willems. “We now define ourselves as a Full Digital Payment Provider with a broad range of digital payment services and new, innovative, multifunction ATMs in collaboration with our historic partner NCR Atleos. Adenia’s support has been instrumental to deliver on our strategy and we strongly believe SPE will help us bring OMOA to new heights.”
“This is the first investment from our newly raised private equity fund, SPE PEF III, LP, and we are looking forward to contributing to further enhance OMOA’s leadership position in the region and execute on its transformational growth plans,” said Stéphane Heuzé, Managing Partner at SPE.
“We are very excited to invest alongside Bart Willems and the entire team to consolidate OMOA’s position as a Full Digital Payment Provider, as well as support its ambitious development plans into payments processing, leveraging on the investments made over the last few years,” added Tarek Lababidi, Partner at SPE.
Adenia Partners was advised by Lazard (financial advisor), Asafo & Co (legal lead advisor), Deloitte (financial and tax advisors), Edgar, Dunn & Company (strategic advisor), CMS Francis Lefebvre (legal and tax advisor).
SPE Capital was advised by DLA Piper (legal lead advisor), FIME (strategic advisor), KPMG (financial and tax advisors), IBIS (ESG advisor), Deloitte (BI advisor), and AXA Climate (Climate advisor).
About Adenia
Adenia Partners is a private markets investment firm which has raised $950 million across five funds and co-investments, and is committed to responsible investing and a sustainable Africa. Founded in 2002, Adenia has a proven track record with over 30+ platform investments executed and 20 realized exits. Based on-the-ground across Africa, Adenia has one of the most highly qualified African private markets investment teams in terms of educational pedigree, longstanding experience as entrepreneurs and investors, and local in-depth knowledge. By creating stronger companies with quality jobs, fostering economic improvement, and elevating companies to meet ESG standards, Adenia is increasing the enterprise value for investors, whilst benefiting workers, communities, and companies in Africa. For more information, please visit: www.adenia.com
About OMOA Group
Founded in 1999, OMOA is the leading integrated service provider for the payments industry in West and Central Francophone Africa. The company supports clients across the whole payment value chain by installing and maintaining ATMs, integrating software solutions for ATMs, processing electronic payment transactions and personalizing payment cards. The group is active in 11 countries and employs over 150 people. For more information, please visit: www.omoa-group.com
About SPE Capital
SPE Capital, founded in 2016, is an independent Private Equity firm focused on Africa and the Middle East. SPE Capital is led by an experienced on-the-ground investment team, with strong local knowledge and a proven track record of investing in growth companies. With offices spanning across the region, SPE Capital has a thorough understanding of businesses in the region and strives to apply best international practices and governance standards. For more information, please visit: www.spe-capital.com
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