East Africa’s ‘immense competitive advantages’

Below is an extract of an interview with Ahmed Heikal, founder and chairman of Egyptian private equity firm Citadel Capital. A portion of the interview was featured in PEO's sister publication Infrastructure Investor. Citadel recently announced plans to invest up to $400 million over the next two years in a range of sectors in East Africa, including private equity and infrastructrure.
 
What encourages this level of investment in East Africa?

AH: We have always seen East Africa as a natural part of our core regional footprint. If you look at the markets to which we are attracted, they all have immense competitive advantages offered by large, fast-growing populations that translate into sizable skilled workforces and substantial consumer markets. Many of them are proximal to important export markets. We see legacies of inefficiency and fragmented markets that can be redressed by smart private sector players with the vision, capital and management talent to create new engines of economic growth. All of these are, in one way or another, characteristics of the East African markets we are now exploring.

Ahmed Heikal

What has been the experience of the firm so far in each of the countries it has targeted in the region?

AH: We are already investing heavily in Sudan, where we will have investments of more than $900 million by the end of 2010 in sectors ranging from cement production, food and agriculture and financial services to mining, oil and gas and transportation and logistics. By and large, we find governments and other private sector actors alike are very welcoming to foreign investment, particularly from an African private equity player of our size.

Each market has its own unique challenges but none are radically different from our experiences in Algeria or Sudan for example. These are large markets, which are hungry for investment and welcome the type of capital and management expertise we bring to the table. 
 
Tell us about river transport company Nile Logistics?

AH: Citadel Capital’s investments in Africa’s transportation and logistics sector are carried out through platform company Nile Logistics which includes three portfolio companies: Nile Cargo, the National River Ports Management Company (NRPMC) and Keer Marine.

Nile Cargo is serving bulk clients with a fleet of 30 refurbished barges and is building a further 62 custom

NRPMC is investing up to $75 million to establish and operate several new river ports strategically located in Cairo, Alexandria and Upper Egypt. Keer Marine also operates river barges and is developing networks of supporting river ports and logistics hubs in Sudan.

Nile Logistics capitalises on the region’s underdeveloped river transport sector and provides seamless door-to-door service for industrial and agricultural producers and traders. River transport will act as a critical competitive advantage as the firm’s growing transportation and logistics operation facilitates national and international trade in countries including Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Chad.