Actis acquisition of Medis Group

Overview:

• Actis—an emerging markets private equity firm—has acquired a stake in Medis, a generic pharmaceuticals business operating in Tunisia and Algeria.
• The stake was acquired from Africa-focused private equity firm AfricInvest, who have participated in a number of investment rounds via various funds in the business since it was launched by Lassaad Boujbel in 1996.
• The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the transaction was carried out through the $780 million Actis Africa Fund 4, which was led by healthcare and consumer sector focused director Hichem Omezzine.
• The private equity firm plans to establish Medis as a significant pan-African and Middle Eastern pharmaceuticals platform by injecting additional capital to finance its planned build-and-buy strategy.
• Medis was the first company to launch sterile products in North Africa and has built one of the first oncology labs on the continent. 
• The company plans to benefit from the continent’s demographic and lifestyle trends which are expected to push growth in the branded generic drug sector, and it has plans to provide complex biosimilar medicines that treat diseases such as infertility and multiple sclerosis while becoming one of the region’s few affordable cancer drug producers. 

Adam Majeed - Regional editor