Cleary Gottlieb represented Oragroup SA (Oragroup) and its majority shareholder Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), a Pan-African private equity fund, in ECP’s partial exit from Oragroup by way of a strategic sale to the Social Welfare Institute – General State Pension Fund (IPS-CGRAE) of Ivory Coast.
The agreement also includes several European and West African institutional shareholders of Oragroup (Proparco, DEG, BIO, and BOAD) as minority selling shareholders.
This transaction follows the introduction of Oragroup on the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) in April 2019, representing 20% of its capital, the largest transaction since the creation of the BRVM in 1998, and a regional capital market raising of CFAF 56.92 billion (€86 million). Cleary also represented ECP and Oragroup in that initial public offering.
The introduction was announced on April 16, 2019, and the transaction was announced on November 21, 2019. The transaction will close after approval by the WAEMU Banking Commission and other banking regulators overseeing the activities of Oragroup in the 12 African countries in which it operates.
ECP is one of the largest and longest-established private equity fund managers focused on Africa. In May 2007, the company became the first private equity group to raise more than $1 billion for investment in Africa. With a balance sheet total of CFAF 2,171 billion ($3.7 billion) and CFAF 127 billion in net banking income as of December 31, 2018, Oragroup is the leading independent banking group in the West and Central Africa sub-regions.