Vantage Capital invests €30m in Promamec
Vantage Capital, Africa’s largest mezzanine fund manager, has closed a €30 million equity investment for the acquisition of a significant minority stake in Promamec, a Moroccan medical distribution business. The funds invested by Vantage Capital facilitated the exit of the private equity fund AfricInvest and will also serve to part-fund Promamec’s next phase of development.
Promamec was founded in the early 1980s by the Lahlou family. The company is a medical consumables and equipment distributor in Morocco and is also among the few players engaged in the local production of medical consumables – an activity that the company aims to sizably develop over the next few years.
Naoufal Lahlou, CEO of Promamec commented, “We are delighted to welcome into our shareholding Vantage Capital, a leading pan-African investment firm. With Vantage Capital’s support, we aim to execute our ambitious growth plan, which consists of diversifying our current product range, increasing our production capacity and, above all, expanding our geographical presence in sub-Saharan Africa. Since our very first discussions, Vantage Capital has demonstrated its total alignment with our vision.”
Luc Albinski, executive chairman at Vantage Capital added, “We are proud to have concluded our third Moroccan deal. This deal also marks our second investment in Morocco’s buoyant healthcare sector, which is undergoing massive development thanks to both public and private investments. We are very enthusiastic about accompanying Promamec in achieving its ambitions and contributing to the improvement of healthcare in the Kingdom.”
Driss Benabdeslam, associate partner at Vantage Capital added, “We are very happy about this investment in one the Kingdom’s main medical suppliers. It is great to know that our funds and strategic support will be dedicated to a company operating in such a key sector. We are also pleased to partner with a highly seasoned and committed team, with whom we look forward to taking Promamec to the next level. We would like to thank the Lahlou family for their trust and willingness to welcome us as new shareholders.”
Vantage Capital was advised by Derenia Capital which acted as buy-side advisor for the transaction, and by Clifford Chance (in Morocco) which acted as its legal counsel. PwC (in Morocco) and Webber Wentzel (in South Africa) provided tax advice, PwC and Deloitte (in Morocco) were the financial advisors, Strategy& (part of the PwC network in Morocco) provided commercial advice, and Ibis Consulting (in Morocco) reviewed the environmental impact.
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