Helios Investment Partners took a minority stake in Nigerian pension fund manager ARM Pension Managers PFA, a spokesman for Helios said.
Under the agreement, funds managed by the Africa-focused, $2 billion private equity firm will acquire a minority stake in ARM Pensions, a subsidiary of Asset & Resource Management Co. Lagos-based ARM Pensions is the country's largest independent pension fund manager, with $2.2 billion in assets under management.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Helios invested about $50 million. The size of the stake was not disclosed.
Nigeria's pension industry has grown by more than 30% per year since the introduction of pension reforms in 2006, according to a news release from Helios. It is expected to continue to grow, with less than 10% of Nigeria's 70 million workforce currently enrolled in Nigeria's new mandatory contributory pension plan, according to the news release.
“ARM Pension is an attractive business with a best-in-class management team and an established track record within the Nigerian pension industry,” said Tope Lawani, managing partner of Helios Investment Partners, in the news release. “Helios has a long-standing relationship with ARM, and we look forward to working with the management team to grow the business in what is a massively underpenetrated market.”
Spokesmen for ARM could not be reached by press time.
