Actis, a leading private equity investor focused on emerging markets, has today announced the opening of the $100 million Ikeja City Mall in Alausa, alongside project partners Paragon Holdings, and RMB Investments and Advisory. The first day of trading was attended by His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola, Executive Governor of Lagos State who delivered a keynote address.
The mall is a world class retail and leisure development initiated by Actis three years ago and comprising 27,000 square metres of gross built area and 23,000 square meters of lettable area. The space accommodates nearly 100 shops including Shoprite’s latest generation store of over 4,400 square metres, KFC, Mr Price, Twice as Nice, Nike and Aldo. The design of the mall incorporates informal meeting places, a food hall and a fivescreen Silverbird cinema. Bounded by access roads on three sides, the five hectare site is ideally positioned for convenient parking and shopping.
The Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, said “This mall restores Ikeja back to its rightful place as the retail hub of Lagos. Actis has shown tremendous leadership and delivered this mall on plan, on time and on budget – following in the footsteps of their other successful real estate projects in West Africa. This development provides an inspiring vision of what can be achieved through collaboration – between the development partners, regulators, government officials and tenants.
“Ikeja City Mall brings world-class retail and leisure facilities to Lagos; I am excited to see my fellow citizens in the mall today, relaxing and having fun.”
Actis believes that Ikeja City Mall heralds the next step in West Africa’s retail and leisure revolution. There are 3.9 million potential customers living and working within an 8km radius of the site and 900 permanent jobs have been created. Actis played the lead role in the conception and realisation of the Ikeja City Mall project and is the majority (60%) shareholder in Gruppo, the company established to own and manage the mall, while Paragon Holdings and RMBIA each hold 20%.
Actis Real Estate Director, Michael Chu’di Ejekam, said: “Actis is proud to unveil Ikeja City Mall. This is a project that demonstrates Actis’s proven track record of
From left to right, Mrs Erejuwa Gadebo, CEO Broll Nigeria, Mr Michael Chu'di Ejekam, Director, Actis West Africa and Ngozi Edozien, Chief Executive, Actis West Africa.
delivering quality real estate for Nigeria.
“We believe that Actis’s real estate developments can have a profoundly positive impact in sub-Saharan Africa. Ikeja City Mall opens up a space for Nigerians to work and relax and follows in the footsteps of Actis’s successful development of The Palms. We believe that Nigeria and Ghana alone have the potential for at least 20 more similar scale malls.”
Ngozi Edozien, Head of West Africa said: “Ikeja City Mall seals Actis’s reputation as the West African investor of choice: our local team in Lagos has unrivalled access to investment opportunities in real estate, financial services, industrials and consumer businesses, and a network that reaches across the region.”
Speaking about the project Afolabi Toyo, Executive Director of Paragon Holdings said: “Ikeja City Mall represents the successful cooperation of a local land owner, such as Paragon, with deep understanding of the local marketplace with an international firm investor, such as Actis, with its track record and financial capability.”
Actis’s Real Estate team in Africa combine private equity real estate, development and financial experience with a strong network, and relationships with leading industry professionals, third party developers and lenders. The team leads developments primarily in A-grade retail and office, focusing on high standards of design, efficiency and green building practices. Their current portfolio includes investments in Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Mauritius and Zambia.
About Actis
Actis invests exclusively in the emerging markets with a growing portfolio of investments in Asia, Africa and Latin America; it currently has US$4.6bn funds under management.
Actis has close to US$1.5 billion invested in 18 African countries and 32 investment professionals working in Africa, with offices in Cairo, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi. In March 2011, Actis was named African Private Equity Fund of the Year by PEI Magazine for the fourth year in a row.
The post The Opening of the $100 million Ikeja City Mall brings world-class retail and leisure facilities to Lagos appeared first on Celebrating Progress Africa.
