Paris private equity fund buys stake in Kenya’s Ramco

A Paris-based private equity fund has bought a 30 per cent stake in a subsidiary of Ramco Group.

Amethis Finance, an African-focused private investment fund, has acquired the stake in Ramco Plexus that comprise nine companies with interests in print and packaging, hardware, stationery and office supplies and ICT consulting.

Ramco Group, a family-owned business whose annual turnover stands at Sh23.8 billion, is headquartered in Nairobi and has presence in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. Ramco Group will still hold 70 per cent stake in Ramco Plexus.

Kirit Patel, Chairman of the Ramco Group says, “This partnership with Amethis, which is a long term strategic investor, will allow us differentiate ourselves further and accelerate our plans to expand in East and Central Africa.”

“Ramco has successfully managed to adapt to changing trade and economic structure through product diversification, vertical integration and state of the art technology. Amethis is delighted and proud to have entered into such a long term partnership with the Rambhai Family,” Luc Rigouzzo President and Co-founder of Amethis said.

“We are confident this Amethis investment will support Ramco’s regional expansion and that Amethis European and African network will help to identify acquisitions targets and build strategic partnerships.”
Ramco Group was started in 1948 as a hardware store by the late Rambhai Patel and since its inception has grown to be a conglomerate of 34 companies pre-dominantly in Kenya and with a footprint in the rest of East Africa.

Ramco Plexus’s strategy

This business includes companies like Office Mart— one of the largest retail outlets of office products and services in Nairobi city —and Seal Honey which provides office and school stationery. The companies that fall under Ramco Plexus have a combined annual turnover of $62 million (Sh5.5 billion) and a workforce of over 1,200. These include Ramco Printing Works Ltd, Polythene Industries Ltd, Platinum Packaging Ltd, Marketpower International Ltd , ASL Packaging Ltd and the Print Store Ltd . Others are Ecopallets Ltd and Broekhof Ltd.

“I am excited by all the synergies this operation will allow between these nine entities and the benefit it will bring to their clients and employees,” says Jean-Sébastien Bergasse, Investment Director of Amethis.

He said Amethis, which is based in Paris will actively participate in defining and implementing of Ramco Plexus’s strategy and will open the Company to new partners and new markets and will play an active role in the governance with the ambition for the company to become an African leader in the printing and packaging sector.