Africa Lighthouse Capital (ALC), one of the leading Botswana citizen-owned private equity firm, has been unveiled as the new major shareholder in FSG, the biggest funeral services group in Botswana.
ALC was awarded P500 million by Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) as part of the incubation programme to grow citizen owned asset management firms. The P500 million is to be invested in unlisted companies.
In the deal yet to be approved by the Competition and Consumer Authority, ALC will buy 37.62 percent shareholding in FSG held by Botswana Insurance Holding Limited (BIHL) through its wholly owned subsidiary Botswana Life Insurance Limited.
ACL will be acquiring the shares through ALCF I Investment II Proprietary Limited which already holds 19.37% of the shares in FSG. Following completion of the FSG Transaction, ALCF I will be the major shareholder with 56.99 percent of the shares in FSG. ACL will pay P250 million for the 37.62 percent stake.
FSG was delisted from the Botswana Stock Exchange in 2015 after BIHL, Flip Coin, Kate Maphage, Petronella Matumo and Tebelelo Seretse, who together jointly held 75.35 percent of FSG, purchased the remaining 24.65 percent that were not held by them for P83 million, executed at a price of P2.80 share for the 29.8 million ordinary shares. Founded by managing director, Milivojoe Nikolic and his wife Lynette Nikolic in 2003, FSG listed on the local stock exchange in 2008.
In December 2020, ACL used part of the BPOPF’s P500 million to acquire Minet, formerly known as Aon Holdings Botswana. The private equity firm partnered with Minet Group to acquire Aon’s shareholding in Aon Holdings Botswana. Minet Group is a pan-African risk advisory firm and Aon’s largest Global Network Correspondent. Minet Group has been rapidly expanding its African footprint since 2017 through the acquisition of Aon’s operations in Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
