PwC names new deal-maker as Agarwal quits

Consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has named a new head of its Kenya deal-making unit to replace Vishal Agarwal as firms seek to cut the dominance of investment banks in crafting transactions.

The firm on Tuesday said Tibor Almássy will lead its East Africa corporate advisory business —which handles mergers, IPOs and debt advisory.

Mr Agarwal told the Business Daily he was quitting the consultancy firm after a span of 15 years to manage the Nairobi office of private equity firm Tribute Capital East Africa.

“Tibor Almássy’s appointment coincides with growth trends in Africa pointing to the need for deep expertise in valuations, business economics, corporate and project finance and strategy consulting,” Anne Eriksson, PwC’s regional senior partner for East Africa in a statement.

“A PwC recent survey shows that failure to agree upon valuation has been the single most important cause of uncompleted deals in emerging markets. Mr Almássy has extensive experience in these areas and others.”

Besides Kenya, he will scout for deals in 10 other countries in East Africa including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia, Mauritius, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

Mr Almássy joins PwC’s East Africa business from Hungary where he manned the firm’s advisory practice in central and Eastern Europe.

The consultancy firm did not mention the exit of Mr Agarwal whose handling of the KenGen IPO in 2006 as the lead transaction adviser catapulted his career.

The IPO, which raised Sh26 billion out of the required Sh7.8 billion, is credited with ushering in retail investors to the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

It was after this eye-opening investment that a vast number of retail investors, including those with little knowledge of stock market trading, made their debut to the Nairobi bourse.

After the deal, Mr Agarwal was later promoted from being an employee of PwC to a partner, a position that allowed him to share profits generated by the consultancy firm in east Africa.

In 2006, India-born, America-trained investment banker helped a consortium led by South African firm Sheltam to secure the concession deal of the Kenya-Uganda Railways.  Sheltam later sold its stake to Egypt’s PE Citadel.

He also aided France Telecom beat Reliance of India and Telkom South Africa to acquire a 51 per cent stake in Telkom Kenya in 2007.

“After 20 years in the advisory business, I am now going to run a PE outfit as managing partner,” said Mr Agarwal. “I will target the PPP (private public partnerships) that are in the pipeline.”

The government is banking on private capital to plug a huge financing gap for infrastructure projects as social programmes and Constitution implementation takes up bulk of its revenues.

Through PPP deals, the National Treasury has sought to raise up to Sh2.5 trillion in the next 10 years (Sh255 billion annually) to build public assets that are crucial for attainment of medium income status in the next 16 years.

The projects include the new Lamu Port, the dual carriage of Nakuru-Nairobi road and a number of geothermal power plants. Tribune Capital is targeting to raise $250 million (Sh21.6 billion) with a bias for infrastructure and energy sector deals.

Mr Mr Agarwal will join a growing list of local executives who have started PE firms including the former TransCentury CEO, Tony Wainaina and Paul Kavuma, who was previously head of private equity at Actis East Africa before establishing Catalyst Principal Partners.