Helios investment partner (Helios), the Africa-focused private investment firm has welcomed Sojitz Corporation (Sojitz), one of the leading conglomerate investment and trading houses listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as a new investor.
This was contained in a press statement available to Nigerian NewsDirect yesterday.
“The completion of the sale by Helios of a 25% interest in the holding company of Axxela, the largest private sector gas distributor in Nigeria to Sojitz. Helios retains a 75% in the company.
“The transaction marks Sojitz first significant equity investment in Africa, indicating its growth ambitions on the continent and serving as a blueprint for future collaboration in Africa between Helios and Sojitz across a range of sectors.
“As like-minded shareholders, Helios and Sojitz expect to accelerate further growth to Axxela’s business by leveraging Sojitz’s expertise in developing gas and power infrastructure projects and providing lower-carbon energy solutions to industrial customers globally.
“Sojitz is a leading conglomerate whose experience spans several industry including energy (gas, LNG, renewables, power, new clean energies including hydrogen), automotive, aerospace, agriculture, chemicals, consumer goods, healthcare, infrastructure and resources.
“As a good energy player, Sojitz possesses deep expertise in the gas and power infrastructure sector, where it has been involved in the development of gas distribution networks, LNG terminals and power plants globally.
“Axxela is a pioneering energy infrastructure company at the forefront of delivering cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy to industrial customers across West Africa.
“Its operations supports the utilisation of Nigeria’s vast domestic gas resources to drive domestic growth while also facilitating fuel switching by industries to gas, reducing CO2, Nitric Oxide and Sulfur Oxide emissions, which enables the transition to a lower carbon economy. Axxela enables its customers to reduce their CO2 emission by 1.7 million tonnes between 2018 and 2020 by switching their energy supply from diesel to Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to gas and will expand such contribution to reduce CO2 emissions through the growth of its business.
“Axxela group began operations in 2001 and currently serves over 200 industrial customers across key industrial hubs in Lagos. Port Harcourt and Sagamu providing a comprehensive energy offerings across pipelines gas, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas.
“It also supplies gas to power utilities and industries across the West Africa region, taking advantage of its status as a designated shipper in the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), a regional gas pipeline spanning across Benin, Togo and Ghana,” the statement read.