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Actis Capital

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Actis LLP
Company typePrivate
IndustryInfrastructure, Emerging markets
PredecessorCDC Group
Founded2004; 20 years ago (2004)[1]
HeadquartersLondon, SE1 United Kingdom
AUM$14.1 billion (2024)[2]
OwnerGeneral Atlantic
Number of employees
c.250
Websitewww.act.is

Actis LLP is a global investment firm focused on sustainable infrastructure, in particular the energy, infrastructure, and real estate asset classes.[3]

It is focused on investments in emerging markets in India, Latin America, South East Asia, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and China.[4][5]

Actis was formed in July 2004, as a spinout of CDC Group plc (formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation), an organization established by the UK Government in 1948 to invest in developing economies in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. The Actis management team acquired majority ownership of CDC's emerging markets investment platform.[6]

The firm was acquired by General Atlantic in 2024.

History

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Actis was founded in 2004 as a spinout from CDC Group, the UK's development finance institution, when a 60% stake in the firm was sold to CDC managers and staff for a total consideration of £373,000.[7] The new company was given a five-year 'umbrella' guarantee that it would continue to manage all CDC's existing overseas investments totalling US$900 million in CDC funds. According to the UK's Department for International Development, the price was agreed after a valuation by financial advisers KPMG. Under the 2004 deal that created Actis, if the company was to be sold on the open market within 10 years, 80% of the profits and proceeds would go back to the government.

In 2007, UK prime minister Gordon Brown came under attack over the sell-off of Actis after it became apparent that the formerly government-owned business had made millions of pounds for its former employees.[8]

On 1 May 2012 the Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, announced that the state's remaining 40% stake had been sold to Actis management for an initial £8m. The deal also included a share of future profits that could be worth over £62m to the UK Government.[9]

In March 2019, Actis was named "Impact Investment Firm of the Year" at the 2018 Private Equity International Awards. The firm also placed second in the Energy Private Equity category, behind I Squared Capital.[10]

In April 2019, driven by an industry-wide trend towards more transparency in impact investing, the firm launched the "Actis Impact Score", an open-source framework that seeks to consistently measure impact from investment to investment, thus permitting comparison across different asset classes or geographies, as well as tracking its evolution over the holding period.[11]

In May 2022, Actis announced the closure of its Cape Town and Nairobi offices, with their services being taken over by their Johannesburg, Cairo and Lagos offices.[12] As of 2024, Actis has 17 offices globally.[13]

In March 2023, Actis announced portfolio-wide net zero targets, committing to align 60% of its total AUM with Net Zero by 2030, to have at least 50% of its AUM in 2030 to be invested in climate solutions, and that it intends for all portfolio companies to develop Board-approved Net Zero Plans within two years post investment. This followed an earlier commitment in 2022 to align 100% of its investment portfolio to Net Zero by 2050, which saw the firm become a signatory to Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative.

In January 2024, General Atlantic agreed to acquire Actis. The acquisition finalised in October, after which Actis became General Atlantic's sustainable infrastructure arm.[2][14]

Controversy

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In July 2023, Actis faced an impending bankruptcy of Energy of Cameroon (Eneo), of which it held a 51% stake and announced its intention to start arbitration if no other solution could be agreed on.[15]

Investments

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In August 2013, Actis acquired the South African firm Transaction Capital's payment services unit, Paycorp, for US$95 million.[16] Actis exited the investment in 2022.[17]

In October 2013, the firm announced it had invested US$48 million in the Indian pharmaceuticals company Symbiotec Pharmalab for a "significant stake".[18] Actis exited the investment in 2018.[19]

In July 2017, Actis announced investing $275 million in the education sector in Africa. The investment is made through the creation of Honoris United Universities, a network of institutions, including Mancosa and Regent Business School in South Africa.[20]

In mid 2018, following the crisis and subsequent collapse of The Abraaj Group, Actis moved to acquire and assume management of Abraaj's Middle East and North Africa funds.[21] While other players were interested and placed competing bids, including higher offers from firms based in the Persian Gulf, Actis was ultimately preferred by investors to take over the funds due to its emerging-markets expertise and operations-focused investment rationale, as well as in interest of a block deal that encompassed all underlying assets.[22]

In July 2019, after a complex, multiyear process, it was announced that Actis had secured management rights to Abraaj Private Equity Fund IV and Abraaj Africa Fund III, totaling $2.99 billion of assets under management and 14 portfolio companies.[23][24] The transaction also included around 25 junior employees formerly employed by Abraaj. Commenting on the deal, Actis' Chief Investment Officer stated it was a response after "a number of investors asked us to step in to be part of a solution in mid-2018".[24] With the transaction, Actis reached $12 billion under management and 250 employees globally.[23]

In August 2019, the firm reached final close for the Actis Long Life Infrastructure Fund (ALLIF), raising $1.23 billion in committed capital. The 15-year, brownfield- and yield-focused, core infrastructure vehicle represents a strategic shift for Actis, which has historically targeted buy-and-build investments via its flagship energy funds.[25] Despite this shift, the first two deployments for ALLIF were within renewable energy generation - a 110MW PV solar plant in Chile acquired from SunPower in 2018,[26] and a 137MW wind farm in Brazil sold by EDP Renováveis in 2019 for R$ 598 million.[27]

In 2022, Actis acquired controlling stake in Yellow Door Energy, a Dubai-based solar provider company; invested in Indian renewables platform BluPine Energy, targeting 4GW capacity of utility scale solar, wind and storage projects (backed by up to US$800 million of capital); backed Southeastern Europe renewables business Rezolv Energy; and invested in Southeast Asia renewables platform Levanta Renewables.[28][29][30][31]

In March 2023, Actis sold its stake in Lekela Power, Africa's largest pure-play renewable energy independent power producer in Africa’s biggest renewable energy deal, and later in the year sold its stake in BTE Renewables, the continent's second largest renewables player.[32][33]

In February 2023, Actis partnered with EnCap to invest in Catalyze, targeting a build-out of around 600MW capacity of solar and battery storage.[34] In May 2023, Actis launched Nozomi investing $500million in this platform for renewable energy in Japan.[35][36] In August 2023, Actis acquired a portfolio of Latin American and US data centers for US$35 million.[37]

In 2024, Actis acquired a telecom tower portfolio in the Western Balkans, branded as ConnectisTower; a portfolio of operational hybrid annuity model road assets in India; an operational energy transmission asset totalling 743km; and a 2.2GW diversified generation platform from Enel Generación Perú, taking over one of Peru's largest diversified generation portfolios.[38][39][40][41] The firm also launched a new Asian data centre platform, Epoch Digital.[42]

In April 2024, Actis and Fortescue were awarded rights to develop major green hydrogen project in Oman, with the potential to produce up to 200,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year.[43] In September 2024, Actis signed to invest in the world’s largest integrated renewables and energy storage project in the Philippines (when fully commissioned, as measured by battery energy storage capacity).[44]

Divestments

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In September 2019, Actis sold Atlantic Energias Renováveis and its operating 642MW wind power portfolio to China General Nuclear (CGN) for a reported figure of c. R$ 4 billion, or roughly six-to-seven times of its initial investment in local currency.[45] Actis benefited from being one of the early movers into renewable energy generation in Brazil, reaching the status of joint-largest wind operator in the country with platform companies Atlantic and Echoenergia.[46]

In January 2023, Actis disposed of its 15% stake in Singapore based, Indorama Eleme Fertilisers and Chemicals, a sub-Saharan producer of urea, to Indorama Corporation which already held 85% and regained full control of its stakes.[47] In June 2023, Actis sold the South African renewable energy developer BTE Renewables to French companies Engie and Meridiam.[48][49]

References

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  1. ^ Spinout from CDC Group
  2. ^ a b Gopinath, Swetha (16 January 2024). "General Atlantic to Acquire UK Infrastructure Buyout Firm Actis". Bloomberg News.
  3. ^ "About us". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  4. ^ Private equity: Bain and Actis hunt big game in Africa. Euromoney magazine, April 2007
  5. ^ "About us". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  6. ^ "Company Overview of Actis LLP" (Archive). Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved on January 20, 2024. "2 More London Riverside London, SE1 2JT United Kingdom"
  7. ^ Tran, Mark (2012-05-02). "UK sells share in emerging markets private equity group Actis". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
  8. ^ MPs blast 'incompetent' Brown over company sell-off. The Observer, 25 November 2007
  9. ^ UK sells share in emerging markets private equity group Actis. The Guardian, 2 May 2012
  10. ^ "PEI Awards 2018: Global winners". Private Equity International. 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  11. ^ Rust, Susanna. "Actis: Thinking deep about measurement". IPE. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  12. ^ "Private equity company Actis shuts Nairobi office". Business Daily. 2023-05-22. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  13. ^ "Home". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  14. ^ Joseph, Irien (1 October 2024). "General Atlantic wraps up acquisition of Actis". PE Hub.
  15. ^ "Cameroon: Actis threatens to pull the plug on Eneo". The Africa Report.com. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  16. ^ South Africa's Transaction Capital sells unit to Actis for $95 mln, International: Reuters, 2013
  17. ^ "Paycorp". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  18. ^ Indulal PM (22 October 2013). "PE firm Actis says invests $48 million in Indian pharma company". Reuters.
  19. ^ "Motilal Oswal PE-InvAscent consortium buys out Actis from Symbiotec". VCCircle. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  20. ^ Nsehe, Mfonobong. "A Private Equity Firm Is Investing $275 Million To Create Africa's Largest University Network". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
  21. ^ "Actis bids for Abraaj's emerging market funds -sources". Reuters. 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  22. ^ "Abraaj Investors Prefer $1 Actis Bid to Gulf Offers". Bloomberg.com. 17 September 2018. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  23. ^ a b "UPDATE 1-Actis takes on management of two Abraaj funds". Reuters. 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  24. ^ a b James, Rod (2019-07-15). "Actis takes control of Abraaj funds". Private Equity International. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  25. ^ Stutts, Jordan (2019-08-13). "Actis closes first dedicated infra fund on $1.23bn – exclusive". Infrastructure Investor. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  26. ^ "Actis buys El Pelicano solar park in Chile from SunPower". Renewablesnow.com. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  27. ^ "EDPR finalises sale of 137-MW Brazilian wind farm to Actis". Renewablesnow.com. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  28. ^ "Actis to take controlling stake in Dubai's solar platform Yellow Door Energy". Renewablesnow.com. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  29. ^ Rushmer, Amy (2022-11-24). "Actis backed BluPine Energy acquires 404MWp operating solar portfolio from the Atha Group". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  30. ^ Rushmer, Amy (2022-11-02). "Actis backed Rezolv Energy acquires rights to develop Europe's largest ever solar photovoltaic plant". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  31. ^ Rushmer, Amy (2022-08-11). "Actis acquires majority stake in Southeast Asia renewables platform Levanta Renewables". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  32. ^ Rushmer, Amy (2023-03-20). "Actis and Mainstream Renewable Power complete sale of Lekela Power in Africa's biggest renewable energy deal". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  33. ^ Douglas, Sarah (2023-06-21). "Actis to sell BTE Renewables to Engie and Meridiam". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  34. ^ Rushmer, Amy (2023-02-28). "Actis and Encap invest in US solar platform Catalyze". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  35. ^ Ellichipuram, Umesh (2023-05-10). "Actis launches Japan-focused renewables platform". Power Technology. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  36. ^ "Actis Sets Up $500 Million Renewables Platform in Japan". Bloomberg.com. 2023-05-08. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  37. ^ "Actis gets funding for LatAm data centre buy". latinlawyer.com. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  38. ^ Bataille, Etienne (2024-01-22). "Actis-led Consortium Acquires Telecom Tower Portfolio in Western Balkans". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  39. ^ Bataille, Etienne (2024-02-08). "Actis to acquire a portfolio of operational hybrid annuity model road assets in India". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  40. ^ Bataille, Etienne (2024-02-21). "Actis launches new Brazilian transmission platform and acquires operational transmission asset totalling 743km". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  41. ^ Bataille, Etienne (2024-05-10). "Actis Acquires Enel Generacion Peru and takes over one of Peru's largest diversified generation portfolios". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  42. ^ Bataille, Etienne (2024-06-20). "Actis launches new Asian data centre platform, Epoch Digital". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  43. ^ Bataille, Etienne (2024-04-29). "Actis-Fortescue consortium awarded rights to develop green hydrogen project in Oman". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  44. ^ Bataille, Etienne (2024-09-06). "Actis invests in world's largest integrated renewables and energy storage project in the Philippines*". Actis. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  45. ^ "Private Equity Deal of the Year: Actis' sale of Atlantic Energias Renováveis". www.latinfinance.com. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  46. ^ Lee (an_lee), Andrew (2019-09-18). "China's CGN swoops for Brazilian wind giant Atlantic | Recharge". Recharge | Latest renewable energy news. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  47. ^ Appiah, Kwame Ofori (2023-01-19). "Indorama regains full control of urea plant following Actis exit". African Business. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  48. ^ Akella, Surya (2023-06-21). "Engie, Meridiam sign $1bn deal to buy BTE Renewables from Actis". Power Technology. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  49. ^ "Actis sells BTE Renewables to ENGIE, Meridiam". Capital Business. 2023-07-13. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
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