Description of companies in our portfolio

Africa West Industries (AWI) is a Ivory Coast-based company that produces soap and soap bouillons from crude palm oil. The products are marketed on the West African market.

The FCC II investment will expand the product range, finance the construction of a crude palm oil production plant, increase storage capacity and an edible oil production unit. The investment was made through Africa Elaeis Company (AEC), a SPV based in Mauritius and wholly owned by FCC II.

CIPHARM is the Ivorian leader in pharmaceutical production, present for more than 25 years in the production of generic drugs (dry form, powder and syrup), own brand or licensed, distributed in a dozen countries in West and Central Africa.
The investment of Fonds Cauris Croissance II will enable CIPHARM to expand its offer with the development of injectable form activity, a market insufficiently served by local production.

Site : http://www.cipharm.ci/

Created in 2010, Axxend is a software company specializing in Microsoft and SAP technologies and helps companies increase their productivity and revenues through its services. Axxend operates from its base in Senegal, as well as from offices in Côte d’ Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea Conakry and Cameroon. The investment of FCC II aims to diversify Axxend’s activities. Significant opportunities are emerging in the African landscape, with the advent of broadband Internet via submarine cables.

Azalaï Hotels, formerly a Malian Hotel Promotion Company, was created in 1994 and is a sub-regional hotel group operating in four WAEMU countries through six 3 to 5 star hotels offering 665 rooms at the end of 2012.

The group, which mainly targets UEMOA’s corporate clients, has the following assets: a regional brand, an experienced management team that is expanding regionally, a good geographical location of the hotels and competitive rates in all customer segments offered.
As part of its development plan, Azalai Hotels began building a 170-room 4-star hotel in Abidjan in February 2013. Steps are under way to build a 150-room four-star hotel in Conakry, a 155-room four-star hotel in Dakar and an impending establishment in Lomé, Niamey, Nouakchott and Lagos.

Site : http://www.azalaihotels.com/

BPEC was created as a result of the transformation of Caisse d’ Epargne of Togo into a bank at the end of 2007. BPEC is a commercial and microcredit bank and has the largest network of banking branches in Togo. Cauris intervened in 2010 to enable the Bank to strengthen its financial structure, further institutionalise its shareholding structure and support it in its development programme.

Site : http://www.bpec.tg/

SODIGAZ is a Togolese butane gas bottling and distribution company in Togo. Its promoters are former Togolese executives of an international group working in Togo’s hydrocarbons sector. The Cauris intervention in 2009 in this company aims to finance the construction of a filling centre to meet the explosion in demand for butane gas in Togo.

Site : http://www.sodigaz.com/

PCI is a shareholder investment vehicle of the mobile phone company MTN Ivory Coast, the Ivorian market leader. CAURIS intervened in 2009 in PCI.

Site : http://www.mtn.ci/MTNCI/

FIFA de Ste Luce is a mineral water produced in Benin by the company EAU TECHNOLOGIE ENVIRONNEMENT led by a Beninese engineer who has good experience in the water business. In 2007, the fast-growing company benefited from a Cauris competition to finance its development.

Site : http://www.fifasteluce.com/

The Compagnie de Distribution de Côte d’ Ivoire (CDCI) is a distribution chain management company. Following the acquisition of the company by its current main shareholders, Cauris intervened in 2007 to ensure the company’s growth by opening new sales outlets throughout Ivory Coast.

Operated by Atlantique Telecom (Etisalat group) present in mobile telephony in several African countries, Moov Togo is the second cellular network operator in Togo. Cauris intervened in 2006 following the acquisition of Telecel Togo by Atlantique Télécom.

Site : http://www.moov.tg/

SAPIN is a Senegalese company originally present in the Offset and secure printing sector. The company diversified in 2003 into the heliographic printing industry with the production of flexible packaging (food packaging, detergent packaging, etc.). The Cauris intervention in 2004 was part of the development of this new activity.

Celtel Burkina Faso, the third mobile phone operator to enter the Burkina Faso market in 2001, has gradually gained market share and become the leader in mobile telephony in Burkina Faso. CAURIS’ intervention in Celtel Burkina Faso, which became Zain then Airtel, dates back to 2003.

Site : www.africa.airtel.com

SIMELEC is a Senegalese company specialized since 2003 in the licensed production of electricity meters. Production is sold in Senegal as well as in various other countries of the West African sub-region. CAURIS’ investment is part of a joint venture with Senegalese companies active in the electricity sector.

IKATEL is the second fixed and mobile telephony operator to establish itself in Mali in 2003 with CAURIS’ stake in its capital. IKATEL is a subsidiary of the Senegalese incumbent telephony operator SONATEL, itself owned by the France Telecom Group. The company, which became Orange Mali in 2006, is the undisputed leader in mobile telephony in Mali.

AGORA is an investment vehicle initiated in 2003 by BOA Group and various institutional investors including CAURIS. This vehicle aims to pool resources in order to intervene in highly capital-intensive sectors such as telecommunications.

Site : http://www.boaholding.com/

OMNIFINANCE, the first successful factoring experience in French-speaking West Africa, was originally an Ivorian financial institution. In 2002, CAURIS’s capital contribution allowed CAURIS to finance the development of the company’s activities. The bank obtained authorisation to carry on banking activities in 2002. The bank was later acquired by the Nigerian bank ACCESS BANK.

Site : http://www.accessbankplc.com/

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY (Computec) is an Ivorian company providing IT equipment and services created in 1994 by former executives of DIGITAL Ivory Coast. Cauris was involved in 2002 as part of the company’s development.

Site : http://www.computec.ci/

Founded in 1987 by Togolese private operators operating in the IT sector, CAFE Informatique & Télécommunications is one of Togo’s leading IT services companies and is also a provider of Internet services. CAURIS’ intervention in 2001 is part of the development of VoIP.

Site : http://cafe.tg/

SAPLAIT is an agro-industrial unit based in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) dedicated to the production of margarine, milk, butter and other dairy products. Cauris, through an intervention in 1999, contributed to the realization of the industrial unit in partnership with the COLINA Group.

SERMED is the owner and manager of the International Ophthalmology Centre located in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Cauris, through a capital contribution in 1999, supported the construction of this medical treatment centre.

FILSAH is Burkina Faso’s only cotton spinning mill located in Bobo Dioulasso and operational since 2000. The production of the unit, which includes wires and cloths, is sold on the national, sub-regional and international markets. The Cauris intervention dates back to 1998.

The Azalai Hotels group, formerly SMPH, operates the first West African transnational hotel chain. From its beginnings in 1994 in Bamako with the acquisition and renovation of the historic Grand Hotel of Bamako (4 stars), the hotel group developed with the opening in 2000 in Bamako of the Hotel Salam (5 stars) whose construction justified the intervention of Cauris in 1998. Since then, the group has experienced significant sub-regional development, particularly in Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Benin and Ivory Coast.

Site : http://www.azalaihotels.com/

SHB, located in Bohicon, Benin, is the result of the privatization of the Société Nationale pour l’ Industrie des Corps Gras (SONICOG). On this occasion, SONICOG was taken over by the Ivorian agro-industrial group SIFCA in partnership with various industrial and financial investors including Cauris, which took a stake in the capital in 1998. SHB produces pure, odourless and cholesterol-free vegetable oil from cotton seeds and animal feed.

Bank Of Africa – Burkina Faso (BOA-Burkina Faso) is the fifth BOA Group bank to open in Africa. The bank, which started its commercial activities in 1997, has shown remarkable dynamism with constantly increasing market shares. The Cauris investment took place in 1997.

Founded in 1997, Burkina-Bail is one of the main players in the leasing and factoring market in Burkina Faso. The company was created by the Banque Internationale du Burkina (BIB) in association with various other institutional investors, including FMO and Cauris.

In 1996, Cauris was involved in TUNDE’s transformation from a paper mill to an industrial printing company. During the years of partnership between Cauris and TUNDE, TUNDE has established itself as a renowned printing company both in Benin and in the sub-region.