Buyout firm Actis appointed Citigroup to help with the sale of its BTE Renewables business in South Africa and is seeking a value close to $1-billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The parties are close to putting together a shortlist of potential buyers, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the plans are still private. While the deal is attracting some interest there’s no guarantee a transaction will go ahead, they said.
Actis declined to comment on the value of BTE or whether it’s up for sale. Citigroup also declined to comment and BTE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Actis is looking to cash in on a booming market for new power projects across Africa, where demand for electricity is growing at about 8% per year. More than 600 million people still have no access to power, and a lack of infrastructure has seen firms plunge investment into the sector to make up the shortfall, with renewables a particular area of focus.
The London-based private equity firm is also in the process of selling a majority stake in Lekela Power, a renewable energy firm with projects in South Africa, Egypt, Senegal and Ghana, people familiar with the matter said last month. It has entered into exclusive talks with Infinity Power, a joint venture between Masdar and Egypt’s Infinity Energy, they said.
In another deal this year, Actis agreed to sell clean energy company Atlas Renewable Energy to Global Infrastructure Partners, people familiar with the matter said in May.
BTE, previously known as BioTherm Energy, has over 400 MW of wind and solar capacity. Its assets include Kenya’s second largest wind farm, Kipeto, and other wind and solar projects in South Africa. The group plans to add another 5 gigawatt-plus to the pipeline, according to a company spokeswoman.