General Atlantic to acquire Actis, creating a $96 billion diversified investment platform

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January 17, 2024
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2 min read
Garden City, Kenya.
Garden City, Kenya. (Image credit: Estate Intel)
  • General Atlantic, a New York-based growth equity firm, plans to acquire Actis, a London-based energy infrastructure investor.
  • The companies inked a definitive agreement that allowed General Atlantic to acquire Actis, forming a diverse international investment platform with combined assets under management (AUM) of approximately $96 billion.
  • While the specific financial terms of the transaction remain undisclosed, the deal will close in the second quarter of 2024. 

According to the terms of the agreement, Actis will be the sustainable infrastructure division of General Atlantic's global investment platform. 

Actis Chairman and Senior Partner Torbjorn Caesar will keep leading the company's investment decisions and processes to ensure its autonomy. Simultaneously, its funds will carry on operations under the Actis name.

The company’s Chief Investment Officer, Michael Harrington, stated that the partnership will improve the firms' services by leveraging their combined expertise, networks, and geographic reach.

Bill Ford, General Atlantic's Chairman and CEO, stressed that "addressing the global paradigm shift towards sustainability requires an economic transformation and massive capital investment.

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"With the addition of Actis, we are taking a significant step forward to add a sustainable investment capability which positions General Atlantic to capture this opportunity set for our investors."

Founded in 2004, Actis is a global investment firm focused on the private equity, energy, infrastructure, and real estate asset classes. 

With more than 140 investment professionals spread across 17 global offices, the firm has, in the last 20 years, invested over $2 billion in African energy infrastructure. 

This investment includes natural gas-powered power generation, commercial and industrial solar plants, and utility-scale renewable energy projects. Its African investments include Heritage Place and Ikeja City Mall in Nigeria and Garden City Mall and Junction Mall in Kenya. 

Moreover, as part of its activities in Africa, in March 2020, the firm established a $250 million pan-African data centre platform. This is said to comprise independently owned, carrier-neutral data centres across key African markets. 

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The initial investment under this initiative is said to be completed, with Actis acquiring a controlling stake in Rack Centre, an independent co-location business in Nigeria. 

The company announced in the same year that it had agreements to pay R 2.3 billion ($140 million) in enterprise value to acquire a controlling stake in South African fiber-to-the-home provider Octotel. 

Meanwhile, Actis closed its Nairobi and Cape Town offices in May 2023 to explore alternative working arrangements. However, the company maintained operations and projects in Kenya and South Africa via other branch locations.

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