BPOPF buys 20% of Puma Energy for P300m
Brian Benza | Friday September 25, 2015 18:00
Sitting on an asset base of P51 billion, BPOPF has 35 percent of its funds invested in Botswana through equities, bonds, property and private equity.
Speaking to BusinessWeek on the sidelines of the launch of the fund’s whistle blowing facility in Gaborone this week, CEO Boitumelo Molefe confirmed that the transaction has been wrapped up following a decision by the board to acquire shareholding in the oil company.
“That Puma Energy transaction is now complete. Unlike other deals where we have bought shareholding through fund managers, we have bought the shares in Puma directly, similar to our investment in Mascom,” she said.
Although Molefe declined to disclose the value of the 20 percent stake citing client confidentiality, market sources say the deal is worth P300 million.
Puma Energy Botswana general manager, Mahube Mpugwa was not available for comment as he was said to be out of the country.
Formerly known as BP, Puma Energy is one of the country’s largest oil companies with over 30 retail outlets. Puma Energy also holds lucrative commercial supply contracts with companies such as Debswana, BCL Mine, and BPC for the power peaking plants, Air Botswana, Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana and the Botswana Defence Force Airwing among others.
Under a new investment strategy, BPOPF has introduced private equity and infrastructure funds locally. Last year, the fund launched a P800 million local private equity fund, P500 million of which was awarded to Capital Management Botswana (CMB) with the remainder still out on tender.
The infrastructure fund is yet to be awarded, although Molefe said a manager for the fund has been picked. “The fund is worth P800 million and a manager has been identified for the fund. We are currently doing due diligence and we should be able to announce the name of the manager soon. The fund is part of our efforts to invest in the domestic economy,” she said. Under the property portfolio, the fund recently announced that it has invested P300 million to build the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel in the new CBD.
Last month, BPOPF also boosted its property portfolio when it bought two Francistown properties from PrimeTime for P71 million.