The number of private equity deals in East Africa rose 50 per cent in the first four months of 2015 compared to the same period last year even as the value of transactions failed to match last year’s numbers, according to newly released data.

Burbidge Capital says that the region completed 19 PE deals in 2016 compared to 12 in the four months to April 2015.

The value of deals, however, fell substantially to $123 million compared to $728 million by April 2015.

Last year’s deal pipeline benefited from big ticket deals such as Helios Partners’ exit from Equity Bank that earned the British PE firm Ksh50 billion, and Old Mutual’s Ksh15.7 billion purchase of a stake in UAP from PE firms Abraaj Group, AfricInvest and Swedfund.

“In private equity, seven investment deals in April (19 deals year to date) were announced in the banking (two), IT, online lending, logistics and manufacturing sectors in Kenya and in the agribusiness sector in Ethiopia,” said Burbidge Capital in their East African financial review for April.

“In mergers and acquisition it was all a Kenyan affair with six deals (15 deals year to date) being recorded in the insurance, beauty, e-commerce, hospitality, beverage and logistics sectors. One joint venture was witnessed in the hospitality sector in Kenya.”

In April, the UK development finance institution CDC Group announced it had bought a 10.68 per cent stake in Kenyan tier II bank I&M Holdings from Germany’s DEG and Proparco of France.

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