West Africa’s notable company mergers and acquisitions and their advisers have been recognised at the DealMakers AFRICA Annual Gala Awards held in Lagos.
The awards ceremony, held at Ebony Life Place, also tracked the work carried out by the advisers in the mergers and acquisition and general corporate finance space during 2025.
The DealMakers AFRICA awards are based essentially on objective evidence – the value of deals or transactions and, the number of them.
In only three of the awards is selection subjective and these are approached with considerable circumspection; they are the Deal of the Year, the Private Equity Deal of the Year and the Individual DealMaker of the Year.
Nominations are received from the advisory firms for these subjective awards – the DealMakers AFRICA’s team produces a shortlist and an eventual winner is decided on guided by the following criteria: Transformational elements, execution complexity, deal size and potential value creation. For the Individual DealMaker the deals worked on, the contribution made, the execution complexity and peer recognition are considered.
In the West Africa Deal of the Year category, DealMakers AFRICA shortlisted five deals. These were (in no particular order):
- Presco’s ₦236 billion Rights Issue
- Acquisition by Bosquet Investments of a 21.22% stake in Ecobank Transnational
- GTCO’s international equity offering and listing on the LSE
- West Power and Gas’ disposal of a 60% stake in Eko Electricity Distribution Company
- MOFI Real Estate Investment Fund’s listing on the NGX
The winner of the Brunswick West Africa Deal of the Year 2025 was GTCO’s international equity offering and listing on the LSE. The transaction stands as a milestone in Nigeria’s capital market’s evolution, setting a new benchmark for African financial institutions and reinforcing Nigeria’s position in the global market’s ecosystem. The advisory firms to the deal were Citigroup Global Markets, Chapel Hill Denham Advisory, Banwo & Ighodalo, ALN Nigeria | Aluko & Oyebode, N.Dowuona and Company, White & Case, Clifford Chance, Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie and Ernst & Young.
In the category of Private Equity Deal of the Year (West Africa), DealMakers AFRICA shortlisted four transactions. These were (in no particular order):
- Disposal of Baobab to Beltone Holdings
- Exit by Africa Capital Alliance from Aradel Holdings
- Exit of Axxela by Helios Investment Partners
- Arnergy’s Series B equity raise
The winner of the Ansarada West Africa Private Equity Deal of the Year 2025 was Helios Investment Partners’ exit of its 75% stake in Axxela. The acquisition represents one of the largest private equity exits in Nigeria’s energy sector in recent years and the largest private equity exit in Nigeria during 2025. The transaction reflects the strong investor appetite for high-quality energy infrastructure assets. The advisory firms to the deal were Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria, Banwo & Ighodalo, Latham & Watkins, DLA Piper Africa (Nigeria) | Olajide Oyewole and Asafo & Co.
The award for Individual DealMaker of the Year 2025, (West Africa), which seeks to acknowledge the services provided by an individual to the industry and region as a whole. This is the third time the award was made – the number and calibre of nominations received for 2025 was particularly notable. After considerable deliberation by the Independent Panel, with specific focus on transactions announced in 2025, seven individuals were shortlisted from a pool of 13 candidates. They were (in alphabetical order):
- Ayodeji Oyetunde (Aluko & Oyebode)
- Azeezah Muse-Sadiq (Banwo & Ighodalo)
- Bimbo Oyeyiga (RMB Nigeria)
- Fidelis Adewole (G.Elias)
- Seyi Bella (Banwo & Ighodalo)
- Taofeek Siyanbola (Stanbic IBTC Capital)
- Wolemi Esan (Owaniwu Ajayi)
The Individual DealMaker of the Year (West Africa) was presented jointly to Seyi Bella, a partner at Banwo & Ighodalo and Bimbo Oyeyiga, head of the corporate finance function at RMB Nigeria.
The following awards were made on the night to the top financial and legal advisers to the West African mergers and acquisition industry:
Mergers & Acquisitions
Financial Adviser by deal value
1st Standard Chartered Bank
2nd Morgan Stanley
3rd Stanbic IBTC Capital
Financial Adviser by deal activity
1st Enexus Finance
2nd tie Stanbic IBTC Capital and KeysFinance Partners
Legal Adviser by deal value
1st Dentons
2nd Templars
3rd Asafo & Co
Legal Adviser by deal activity
1st Asafo & Co
2nd G.Elias
3rd Templars
General Corporate Finance
Equity Market transactions
Financial Adviser by transaction value
1st Coronation Merchant Bank
2nd FCMB Capital Markets
3rd CardinalStone Partners
Financial Adviser by transaction activity
1st CardinalStone Partners
2nd tie Coronation Merchant Capital and FCMB Capital Markets
Legal Adviser by transaction value
1st Banwo & Ighodalo
2nd Olaniwun Ajayi
3rd Templars
Legal Adviser by transaction activity
1st Banwo & Ighodalo
2nd ALN Nigeria | Aluko & Oyebode
3rd tie Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie and Olaniwun Ajayi
Debt Market transactions
Financial Adviser by transaction value
1st Stanbic IBTC Capital
2nd Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria
3rd Vetiva Advisory Services
Financial Adviser by transaction activity
1st Stanbic IBTC Capital
2nd FCMB Capital Markets
3rd Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria
Legal Adviser by transaction value
1st Banwo & Ighodalo
2nd G.Elias
3rd Templars
Legal Adviser by transaction activity
1st Banwo & Ighodalo
2nd tie ALN Nigeria | Aluko & Oyebode and G.Elias
The DealMakers Awards were launched in 2000 in South Africa and were introduced to the rest of the continent under the brand DealMakers AFRICA in 2008.
Special thanks to our event strategic partner, TSM Network Ltd
Twin Studios Media Int’l Ltd/TSM Network Ltd
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