MergersAfrique is providing a different way to navigate the dark and tangled space of mergers and acquisitions in Africa.
The web-based platform was conceived by the trio of investors: Sean Obedih, Nick Engelking and Ade Oduntayo and aims to provide an online marketplace where anybody who wants to acquire or sell a company can do so across border, real-time and anonymously — at least for the most part.
According to co-founder, Sean Obedih, “the process of acquiring a company in Africa is very difficult largely due to the fact that most owners don’t want to sell or simply they lack proper book keeping practices. It became very evident that there was a big bottleneck in identifying, evaluating and negotiating with good companies that are coming to market.”
Sean thinks MergersAfrique could solve these perennial inefficiencies. “We have great technical partners for our deal rooms which means our customers can have total control of who sees their documents during the due diligence process,” he said in a blog post.
MergersAfrique provides three key services; a [virtual] Marketplace where business sellers and/or acquirers can co-locate and naturally interact, a Live deal room where sensitive organizational data necessary for due diligence can be shared and appraised securely between a buyer and an acquirer who have agreed to do so, then a Network where buyers, acquirers and investors can hobnob.
Should you check mergersafrique.com as at the time of this writing, you might be at a loss for what to do next. That’s because this is version one, according to Sean. Very soon, he says the platform will look more like Exitround, with Mattermark-style data and analytics layered on top.
Bankole Oluwafemi contributed to this report
Image via: MergersAfrique
