The deals could have been more were it not for prolonged electioneering period that saw a historic repeat presidential poll.
PE funds adopted a “wait-and-see” approach to deals in the run up to the polls, with some dealmakers experiencing delays in clearance by State agencies in Kenya, slowing down deal closing.
Private equity and venture capital firms injected an estimated Sh43.57 billion ($430 million) into the Kenyan economy last year.
This was Sh9.12 billion ($90 million) more than Sh34.45 billion ($340 million) worth of deals inked a year earlier, as per estimates by East African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EAVCA).
The deals could have been more were it not for prolonged electioneering period that saw a historic repeat presidential poll.
PE funds, the lobby said, adopted a “wait-and-see” approach to deals in the run up to the polls, with some dealmakers experiencing delays in clearance by State agencies in Kenya, slowing down deal closing.
“There was a bit of a lull in the run up to elections, but right after second (presidential) election, the deal activities picked again,” said EAVCA co-executive director Esther Ndeti.
Kenya, a regional investment hub, accounted for 89.5 per cent of the $480.4 million (Sh48.68 billion) deals that were inked in East Africa, a jump from 70.23 per cent of the $484.1 million (Sh49.05 billion) deal book in 2016.
The value for regional deals, which fell to 29 from 41 the year before, excludes three exits whose value was not disclosed, Ms Ndeti said.
“The value of deals (in East Africa) remained constant which speaks to the deals being of bigger sizes and that was interesting,” she said.
Kenya controlled 49 per cent of $2.4 billion (Sh243.19 billion) PE deals in East Africa — including Ethiopia — in five years through 2017, statistics by African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association showed on February 19.
Consultancy Deloitte said Tuesday only 81 per cent of PE firms it surveyed between April and June 2017 had planned to make new investments in Kenya in the next 12 months, a drop from 91 per cent the previous year.
The findings, whose release was delayed from last October due to electioneering season, are based on feedback from 75 firms with additional input from investors in those funds.
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