A consortium of investors led by Amethis Finance have extended a convertible loan to Elephant Africa Holding, the holding entity of Bel Papyrus and Bel Impex, producers of tissue paper products in Nigeria.

Alongside Amethis, EuroMena Fund III, the latest of The EuroMena Funds, a MEA based PE fund sponsored by the Capital Trust Group, and other co-investors participate to the investment.

Upon conversion, the consortium will become a minority equity investor.

“Amethis and EuroMena are glad and proud to seal a partnership with the Boulos family and support the business’ future evolutions while contributing to the development of local consumer goods sector,” said Laurent Demey, Managing Partner at Amethis and Gilles de Clerck, Partner at the EuroMena Funds.

The fund’s investment is fully part of Amethis’ strategy to support family businesses in consumer related sectors in their modernization and regional development on the African continent.

Part of the Boulos Group of Companies, the paper business was founded by Anthony and Gabriel Boulos in Lagos in 1987 and rapidly became the Nigerian leader in the production of jumbo reels and its conversion into toilet paper, napkins, facial tissues, kitchen towels and handkerchiefs with a 35% market share of finished products today.

The company is a unique industrial asset in Nigeria and West Africa thanks to its state of the art machinery with a third paper mill that started production recently.

The production model is essentially based on waste paper collected locally and recycled internally to produce jumbo reels, which are then converted into finished products.

The company’s vertical integration grants it a significant competitive advantage over other local and regional players.

Moreover, the company has developed its own brands which are highly visible and distributed all over Nigeria thanks to a wide distribution network of traditional wholesalers as well as modern retailers. In addition, the company exports jumbo reels to converters mainly in ECOWAS countries.

Today, the company mainly serves Nigeria, Africa’s largest market, with a population of 180 million and a fast-growing middle class of consumers.

As part of its development strategy, the group intends to expand regionally while diversifying its local product range towards hygiene products, such as diapers and sanitary napkins.

“Potential acquisitions and strategic partnerships are already being considered and Amethis will use its network and knowledge of the region to the group’s benefit” said Jean-Sebastien Bergasse, Investment Director on the project.

The Boulos family is bringing along external partners to the paper business for the very first time, with the ambition to institutionalize the business and accelerate its local and regional developments.

“We are pleased to welcome Amethis and Euromena as partners in our paper business. We’re confident they will contribute actively to the business governance and support both its development in Nigeria and its regional expansion”, commented the Boulos family.

Kyte Partners acted as sole financial advisor to the Boulos Family on the transaction.