Citadel Capital has been ranked the largest private equity firm in Africa for the fourth year in a row on the definitive global private equity league table.
News that Citadel Capital was again the largest African firm on the annual Private Equity International (PEI) 300 ranking came as the firm took home multiple peer-judged performance-based awards in London and Arusha, Tanzania.
The PEI 300, now in its sixth year, is the only global ‘apples-to-apples’ comparison of private equity direct investment programs. Citadel Capital was ranked the largest PE firm in Africa on the basis of $3.5 billion in qualifying fundraising in the period spanning 2007-2012.
“It is without question that we are living in the earliest days of the African Century. Eight years after our founding, we are happy to note that the rest of the world is finally waking up to the scale of the opportunities Africa presents investors who focus not on resource extraction, but on building globally competitive industries and sustainable infrastructure,” Ahmed Heikal, Chairman and Founder of Citadel Capital, which controls investments of $ 9.5 billion spanning 15 industries, said.
“Africa is long on opportunities, but short on capital and management expertise. Since inception we have focused on creating platform investments that offer solutions to pressing national challenges in the 15 nations in which we invest. Private equity has a vital role to play in large-scale investments in value-added industries and infrastructure projects that promise substantial development benefits for our continent. With investments such as Rift Valley Railway of Kenya and Uganda and the Egyptian Refining Company, we are creating companies that will solve challenges and multiply trade flows,” Heikal, added
Citadel Capital has raised and invested more than $ 4.9 billion in equity for investment in the MENA region and East Africa since it was founded in 2004, generating $ 2.2 billion in cash returns to shareholders and limited partners on investments of $ 650 million, more than any other private equity firm in the MENA region. The firm had nearly $ 1 billion of its own capital invested in its transactions at the end of 2011.
News of Citadel Capital’s PEI 300 ranking came after the firm was named African Banker magazine’s “African Private Equity Fund of the Year” for 2012 at its annual awards gala in Arusha, Tanzania. The jury recognized Citadel Capital in part for having raised $767million in third-party international capital in 2011 despite significant regional headwinds. Included in that sum was capital to complete the financing for a five-year turnaround program at Rift Valley Railways of Kenya and Uganda worth more than $ 330 million.