Helios Investment Partners has sold a quarter of its equity in its wholly owned Axxela, the Nigerian gas distribution company.
Helios sold 25% interest in the holding company of Axxela to Sojitz Corporation, a widely known conglomerate investment and trading house listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Helios retains a 75% interest in the company.
Helios purchased Oando Gas &Power, (formerly Gaslink), a division of the Oando group, in late 2016. The company became known as Axxela, which describes itself as “a pioneering energy infrastructure company at the forefront of delivering cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy to industrial customers across West Africa”, supporting the “utilisation of Nigeria’s vast domestic gas resource to drive industrial growth while also facilitating fuel switching by industries to gas”.
Axxela says in a release: “This transaction marks Sojitz’s first significant equity investment in Africa, indicating its growth ambitions on the continent and serving as a blueprint for future collaboration in Africa between Helios and Sojitz across a range of sectors. As like-minded shareholders, Helios and Sojitz expect to accelerate further growth of Axxela’s business by leveraging Sojitz’s expertise in developing gas and power infrastructure projects and providing lower-carbon energy solutions to industrial customers globally”.
