The Capital Quest | Amethis backs Moroccan firm in third PE deal of 2022

Africa-focused private equity firm Amethis, which has been busy in 2022 with three exits and made new investments in Egypt and Ivory Coast, has struck its third transaction of the year.

The firm had recently hit a fundraising milestone when it made a final close for its second fund aimed at Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It has now picked up a minority stake in Casablanca-based logistics company Globex, the exclusive licensee of global major FedEx in Morocco.

This comes three months after The Capital Quest first reported that Amethis was in talks to invest in Globex after exiting Velogic.

The PE firm did not share how much it has invested and for how much stake. But the regional PE fund, which has a sweet spot of investing in the range of €5-15 million, is picking up around a 30% stake in Globex, it is learnt.

Founded in 1998 in Casablanca, Globex operates in express courier, freight, transit and storage solutions in Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal and Cameroon), under the Fedex Express brand. The Group holds Fedex Express, Trade Logistics and TNT licenses. The group also holds several licences from the customs authorities in Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa.

Through this investment, Amethis seeks to support Globex in strengthening its position by identifying several growth drivers in the short and medium term in order to improve its margins and consolidate its market share. These relays include several strategic axes, such as the creation of a logistic platform in Morocco – which would become, in the current context of reinforcement of South-South exchanges, a hub for Africa – the development of the freight activity in Morocco, the improvement of competitive advantages (delivery times), as well as the development of activities in Senegal and Cameroon.

BDO Maroc and Coram Africa acted as financial advisors and coordinators of the transaction on behalf of Globex. DLA Piper advised Amethis on legal aspects. Accuracy, Efeso, Mazars and Ibis assisted Amethis in the financial, operational, tax and ESG due diligence, respectively.

This is believed to be the second logistics deal for Amethis after it backed Velogic in 2013. Amethis exited Velogic by selling its entire 33% stake via a public offering last December.

Globex will be the third transaction under the new MENA fund. It has also invested in Magriser, a distributor of micro-irrigation systems in Morocco, and language technology and services company Tarjama from the new fund.

Amethis entered Morocco by taking over the management of the fund named Capital North Africa Fund II in 2018. This vehicle had a corpus of €75 million and was rechristened as Amethis Maghreb Fund I, and focuses on North Africa.

The new fund, which wrapped up fundraising recently, is targeting majority and minority investments in small- and medium-sized enterprises in Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan. It is the third SME vehicle managed by Amethis, alongside its larger mid-cap pan-African funds.

Amethis was founded by Luc Rigouzzo and Laurent Demey and is a member of the Edmond de Rothschild private equity partnership. It has assets under management of close to $1 billion and more than 30 investments completed to date.

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