Longevity announces African water services transaction
Longevity Development has completed a complex restructuring and new investment transaction for a major water services company working across Africa.
The business and assets of eWATER were bought by its management team and the founding shareholders. With additional investment from a significant family office, the newly launched eWATERservices Limited will pivot its business away from selling hardware to providing end-to-end water services, focused on supporting rural communities across Africa.
eWATERservices is launching this pivot with renewed investment by a major European commercial business for water systems in West Africa and a newly awarded contract in East Africa with leading development finance institutions (DFIs). Under a broad-based management agreement, going forward Longevity will be responsible for critical functions across the financial, operational and marketing/communications areas of the business and core staff have been integrated into the management team.
“Working with the whole team at eWATERservices continues to be a real privilege. It is precisely the kind of visionary, needle-moving business that Longevity is looking to support and develop, given the importance of water services to communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Together we have successfully been able to pivot the business to realise greater value from their operational capacity, while securing the investment necessary to expand its operations to more communities across Africa and build real scale. In a world consumed by a global pandemic, these businesses have an even more critical role to play in the creation of a sustainable future for us all," said Edward Campbell-Gray, a partner at Longevity Development.
“From the moment we met the team at Longevity 12 months ago, they rolled their collective sleeves up and dived straight in. It has been so refreshing to work with a group that is not just able to provide strategic and financial advisory services, but to make a real impact across our business operations in the region. That combination has proved to be a unique offering, one which has enabled us to achieve complex business objectives in a relatively short period of time (and in the midst of a global pandemic). They have played a critical role in both the turnaround of the business and the securing of the new investment. Going forward I know that their appointed role within the management team will only strengthen our offering. We look forward to continued success together in this next, incredibly exciting chapter in the story of eWATER,” noted Alison Wedgwood, CEO of eWATERservices.
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