Karim Sadek MD Citadel Capital at #Mindspeak on Sept. 29 2012 @ Intercontinental Hotel

Mr. Karim Sadek gave a very insightful presentation at Mindspeak which touched on Citadel Capital activities in this region.

In his candid presentation ‘the role of private sector in accelerating development’ he opened Citadel Capital up to the public. This is the story of Citadel Capital in figures

• It has $ 9.5 Billion in investments under control as of end year 2011
• $ 940 Million in Principal investments
• Operates in 15 industries: from Agriculture, Financial Services to energy distribution
• Has 19 specific funds as per end year 2011

Sadek also espoused Citadel capital track record and their business model. However, what was most insightful we’re his observations on African investment climate. From his position, managing a capital fund, he was of the view that of late Africa has been attracting substantial interest from the rest of the world. However, writing of Cheques for Sub Saharan Africa outside oil and gas is still lacking.

Egypt before and after the revolution

Since Citadel is head office is in Cairo we got a business 101 on Egypt. Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has been in the news complaining of imports from Egypt which are substantially cheaper than Kenyan products because of power/energy subsidies. Well the good news for KAM is the regime of subsidies is coming to an end in Egypt.

The other interesting piece of information from Sadek was insights before the Arab spring. Citadel Capital was two weeks to finalizing a deal for a stake in Egyptian Refining Company before lady liberation came calling. Also, the change in attitudes and perceptions in Egypt, this days young people have no respect for authority. The other interesting insight was the East Africa compared to Egypt had better industrial relations. Egypt is now in the initial process of coming up with an independent workers union.

Citadel’s interest in Kenya

Citadel interest in Kenya came through an opportunity that presented itself in Rift Valley Railways [RVR] which won a 25 year concession on Kenya-Uganda Railway. After the turbulent times RVR has been through it seems with the entry of citadel capital the century old railway is up to some good times ahead.

The Preposition

Citadel capital together with its partners came up with a $ 300 Million preposition to turn around the railway in the next five years. Under the three point turn around based on;

1. Upgrade of operationn
2. Rehabilitation of existing assets
3. Additional of new assets [2014 onwards

Some of the Partners in this Turn around Endeavour

Prominent names stand out in this deal which means this is a success story in the making. These institutions underwriting the success of our railway are;

• African Development Bank
• KfW Entwicklungsbank (Germany)
• International Finance Corporation
• FMO (Dutch)
• Equity Bank (Kenya)
• ICF Debt Pool
• BIO (Belgium)

This here might be the next success story in Kenya if Citadel Capital can hack it.