Afreximbank backs buyout of Oryx Energies

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has disbursed a Sh126 billion ($975 million) financing facility to part-fund the management buyout of Oryx Energies SA, the holding company of Addax Energy SA.

The transaction brings one of Africa’s largest independent energy distributors under majority African ownership for the first time.

Oryx Energies operates in Kenya and more than 20 other African countries, supplying, storing, and distributing fuels, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and lubricants, and offering specialised bunkering services. The company has operated for over 35 years and is among the continent’s longest-established independent energy providers. Its Kenyan operations form part of a wider East African footprint that includes storage terminals, retail fuel stations and commercial supply contracts.

The Cairo-based multilateral lender said on Wednesday it acted as sole lender, facility agent, security trustee and escrow agent for the transaction, which it described as a major step in strengthening the continent’s energy security.

The buyout transfers control of the trading and distribution business from its previous shareholders to the existing management team, led by CEO Moussa Diao.

“This management buy-out marks an important milestone in the history of Oryx Energies and the continuation of a journey that our management team has been part of for many years,” Diao said in a statement.

“It also reflects the strength of experienced African leadership and its ability to guide established businesses towards new opportunities.”

Diao said the transaction would not have been possible without Afreximbank’s support, adding that the bank’s involvement reflected confidence in the management team and in Africa’s energy markets.

Afreximbank President and Chairman George Elombi said the deal advanced the bank’s mandate to drive structural transformation of African economies.

“Through the Management Buy-Out of Oryx Energies SA’s trading and distribution business, we have secured a strategic platform to deepen Africa’s energy industrial ecosystem, strengthen energy infrastructure and capture more value from the continent’s abundant natural resources,” Elombi said.

He added that the transaction would promote greater African ownership and participation in development by empowering local entrepreneurs, expanding local value creation, building capacity, creating jobs and retaining more economic value on the continent.

Afreximbank, with total assets and contingencies of over Sh6.26 trillion as of December 2025, has expanded its support for Africa’s energy sector, including upstream production and refining capacity.

The buyout is one of the largest management-led transactions in Africa’s downstream energy sector in recent years and signals growing appetite among African financial institutions to finance continental industrial assets.