AFRICA’S GREENFIELD OPPORTUNITY

Global tendencies unearthed and analysed point out that the chemical compounds sector is increasingly being pushed by Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) concerns. It also indicates that decarbonisation is commonly a key rationale behind the investments (and divestments) within the sector, aside from Africa the place investments understandably lagged again this yr.
These are the findings of the most recent Chemicals Executive M&A Report for 2022 launched by world management consulting agency Kearney, now in its ninth edition.
“The reasoning for it is because there are merely not that many enticing goal corporations with suitable ESG credentials available to acquire for chemical compounds organizations looking to invest and consolidate on the continent,” explains Prashaen Reddy, Partner on the firm.
As the least industrialized continent, where up to 600million folks nonetheless reside without electricity, Africa’s chemical industry is emergent, and its markets are immature compared to its Asian, European, and Middle Eastern counterparts.
Nevertheless, the chemicals sector is a key part of Africa’s economy. A giant complicated industry, with numerous sub-sectors, Africa’s chemical business is intrinsically interlinked with other sectors – fuels, prescribed drugs, plastics, and manufacturing, to name a number of.
เกจวัดแรงดัน is liable for key outputs and essential commodities along a quantity of industries’ complete worth chains.
In South Africa, the continent’s most developed chemical market, the sector accounts for around 25% of producing sales. (Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association: https://home.kpmg/za/en/home/industries/chemicals.html)

ESG and decarbonisation increasingly being the dominant rationales behind M&A offers in the international chemical compounds sector have resulted in a strong investor appetite for M&A targets with good ESG credentials, permitting Africa’s chemical corporations that embrace ESG to place themselves to attract funding.
“Although realistically Africa will still must harness its ample hydrocarbon-based energy reserves to remain economically aggressive, there are confirmed methods to make even fossil-fuel burning amenities cleaner and extra sustainable, leading to important reductions in carbon emissions, corresponding to the use of low-carbon fuel, low-carbon hydrogen and low-carbon ammonia,” Reddy elaborates.
Africa’s nascent chemical substances sector thereby has a chance to leap forward of the curve, by constructing sustainability and green design ideas into new chemical facility developments from the outset, and by working to decarbonise current choices by way of applied sciences like carbon capturing and sequestration (CCS).
Echoing global developments, African National Oil Companies (NOCs) proceed to feature prominently in the chemical trade M&A area.
“Chemicals M&A exercise has been relatively quiet in Africa over the previous 12 months. Africa’s oil-rich nations’ corresponding to Nigeria, Angola, and extra recently Namibia, who have traditionally focussed on the extraction, manufacturing, and supply of crude oil merchandise, at the second are contemplating the diversification of their product portfolios as part of their future-proofing efforts. This should start to present ends in the medium-term,” explains Reddy.
These new opportunities arising are in downstream beneficiation of power products further alongside the value chain.
“We could subsequently see a spate of acquisitions of amenities that produce petrochemicals, ammonia, and fertilisers, for example, by these NOCs over the approaching years. These acquisitions would function synergistically alongside their current oil and gas-focussed methods,” he says.
There are signs that Africa is set to take possession of beneficiation and manufacturing and become a web exporter of chemical substances, well-poised to supply the mature markets of Asia, the EU, the USA, and its emergent ones.
“Today’s chemicals sector companies should navigate the mega-trends of speedy inhabitants enlargement, local weather change, digitisations and decarbonisation. Traditional chemical and energy giants, and NOCs, are repositioning themselves to remain relevant in a greener future. We hope to see Africa’s emergent chemical compounds sector main the cost towards an environmentally and socially sustainable chemical compounds industry worldwide.”

For extra information, go to www.kearney.com

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