Sub-Saharan Africa M&A to rise over the next two years

South Africa and Nigeria will see the lion’s share of an expected rise in mergers and acquisitions in Sub Saharan Africa over the next two years, a new survey said.

More than two-thirds of respondents, 68%, expect deal activity to increase in the region over the next two years, with 31% expecting it to increase significantly, accounting firm KPMG said in the survey titled ‘Doing Deals in Sub-Saharan Africa’.

A majority of respondents reported a positive experience with dealmaking in the region, making them likely to reinvest in the region.

The survey showed that South Africa and Nigeria would continue leading in deal making activity over the coming two years, and that businesses in the region will benefit from an increase in population, urbanisation, industrialization and free trade.

South Africa had five of the top ten big deals in Sub Saharan Africa last year, Nigeria had two, while Tanzania, Cameroon, and Angola each had one.

A total of 297 deals were announced in the region last year, valued at $19.2 billion, a 21% increase from 2021 and almost double the activity seen in 2020, the survey said.

The KPMG report said Sub Saharan Africa’s energy, mining and utilities (EMU) sector saw the highest aggregate deal value in 2022 at $7.8 billion, the KPMG report said.

The EMU sector also recorded the region’s highest deal volume at 64 deals in 2022, same as in 2021.

The report’s data was gathered from 150 top executives based on their dealmaking experiences in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last four years. The group was split evenly between investors from the region and those from outside the region.

SOURCE: ZAWYA