Africa Capital Alliance’s (ACA) flagship personal fairness fund, CAPE IV, has accomplished a full exit from Aradel Holdings Plc.
The divestment delivered a 3.4x return in greenback phrases (17.1x in naira) after almost a decade of funding within the indigenous upstream oil firm.
ACA bought its 15.93 p.c stake, representing 691.96 million shares, for N387.2 billion at a market worth of N559.50 per share on September 25. The transaction marks the top of a long-standing relationship between the fund and the vitality agency.
A good portion of the shares was acquired by Petrolin Ocean, which has now strengthened its place in Aradel. Petrolin, which beforehand held 8.11 p.c, bought an extra 173.79 million shares valued at N96.4 billion. Thus, it boosted its stake to 12.11 p.c, making it the corporate’s largest shareholder.
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This exit caps a journey that started in 2016, when ACA offered Aradel (then Niger Delta Exploration & Manufacturing Plc) with an $80 million mortgage facility at six p.c each year. In 2018, the funding was transformed into fairness, giving CAPE IV a 16.5 p.c holding. That stake, value N23.8 billion on the time, has grown considerably as Aradel expanded its asset base and later listed on the Nigerian Alternate (NGX) in October 2024.
Standout exits in Nigeria’s vitality sector
Shortly after the itemizing, ACA trimmed its holding by 0.57 p.c in a N19.8 billion sale to boost liquidity in the market, decreasing its stake to fifteen.93 p.c. With this newest divestment, ACA has totally exited its place, realising N406.95 billion in whole proceeds ($272 million), one of many standout exits in Nigeria’s vitality sector.
For Petrolin, a long-standing associate within the Aradel story and a member of the Renaissance Africa Vitality consortium, this elevated stake deepens its affect within the firm’s future route. Petrolin has been a part of Aradel’s evolution from a pioneer in Nigeria’s marginal fields program to a totally built-in indigenous vitality participant.
The transaction highlights the strong worth generated in Nigeria’s upstream sector. It additionally alerts shifting shareholder dynamics that will form Aradel’s subsequent progress section.
Aradel is at present buying and selling at a market worth of N560 per share, with a unfavourable year-to-date return of 6.35 p.c.
