Nigeria: Guinness Nigeria purchases industrial asset in Ikeja to scale up its operations

Guinness Nigeria Plc has acquired a 10-hectare strategic industrial asset in the heart of Ikeja industrial hub as the Diageo subsidiary plans to scale up its operations in Nigeria, The Nation reported on July 2.

The industrial asset is a 10-hectare property in the Ikeja industrial hub of Lagos State. The multi-billion-naira asset which formerly belonged to Universal Steel Limited was acquired by Guinness for the purpose of expanding its operational base in Nigeria.

The acquisition process which kicked off in 2020 was eventually consummated in June 2021. Investment One Financial Services Limited, an investment banking and asset management company arranged the acquisition for Guinness Nigeria from its private clients.

Group Executive Director, Capital Management Division, Ademola Aofolaju, said Investment One played a pivotal role in making the deal happen noting that the deal was very significant to the company as it clearly reaffirms its transactional capabilities.

“Our role was to arrange the sale of the asset on behalf of our private clients. Guinness is acquiring the asset to enlarge its operations in Nigeria. It speaks a lot to our advisory and transactional capabilities that we are able to consummate this deal in the current economic environment. we are proud of the role that we played starting from the beginning when our clients initially acquired the asset, and now that they are exiting the investment. So, it’s a very significant transaction for us as a company,” Aofolaju said.

According to him, the entire transaction, from the initial acquisition and subsequent sale to Guinness spanned five years.

Aofolaju made this known at the deal signing ceremony between all parties to the transaction which held at the Victoria Island Corporate Head office of Investment One Financial Services Limited recently.

He explained that Investment One, in terms of financial arrangements and intermediation, has represented several clients over the past few years.

“This remains a major area of strength for the company and we are proud of that. We have partners both locally and internationally that we work with and we have leveraged on these relationships to arrange funding for our clients across various sectors in the past few years. These sectors include financial services, manufacturing, public sector, conglomerates, energy, power generation & distribution, commercial & residential real estate, upstream & downstream oil & gas, agro-processing, construction, infrastructure, information technology, fashion & lifestyle and entertainment among others,” Aofolaju said.

Investment One Group offers an array of financial services which include financial advisory, issuing house, securities brokerage, real estate, structured finance, venture capital, private banking, trust, mutual funds, pension funds management, private equity, finance house amongst others.

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