Helios Investment Partners, the Africa-focused private investment firm co-founded by Nigerian investor Tope Lawani, has agreed to buy a 49 percent stake in Mozambican wheat and maize miller Merec Industries. The London-headquartered firm is deploying capital through Helios Fund V to purchase the equity from Dubai-based agricultural conglomerate Invictus Investment, both companies confirmed in a joint dispatch on Thursday.

The cross-border transaction values an essential staple producer feeding southern Africa, though financial terms remain undisclosed. Invictus plans to retain 51% control of Stratton Africa Holdings, the Mauritius entity that owns Merec. Both deal teams expect the buyout to clear local antitrust reviews and satisfy standard closing conditions before year-end.

Betting on staple foods

Merec dominates grain processing across Mozambique, running industrial milling hubs, distribution lines, and consumer packaged flour brands. The deal offers Helios direct exposure to daily household consumption patterns that remain resilient even when inflation squeezes discretionary spending, said Lawani, who co-founded Helios alongside Babatunde Soyoye.

Lawani framed the entry as an offensive play on staple food security across the continent. Merec has spent two decades building defensive moat infrastructure, moving raw grain from coastal ports to inland supermarket shelves. Helios plans to use that physical footprint to launch higher-margin packaged food products over the next three years.

Scaling Southern African trade

Invictus chief executive Amir Daoud Abdellatif said bringing in a deep-pocketed institutional backer will speed up Merec’s cross-border logistics push. Since acquiring the miller, Invictus has consolidated its domestic flour lines while mapping regional exports into neighboring landlocked territories like Malawi and Zimbabwe, where processing capacity faces chronic import deficits.

The capital injection gives Merec fresh balance sheet firepower to upgrade bulk grain storage and modernize high-throughput mills. Invictus executives believe combining their physical commodity trading networks with Helios’ regional regulatory playbook will transform a local processing leader into an integrated, multi-country agricultural processing heavyweight across southern Africa.

Shifting institutional portfolios

For Helios, which manages portfolios across 35 African jurisdictions, the acquisition caps a flurry of late-cycle portfolio maneuvers. The private equity shop recently closed the sale of Africa Specialty Risks to London-based Vitruvian Partners, locking in a profitable buyout exit from the fast-growing corporate reinsurance underwriting platform it incubated.

Lawani and Soyoye have simultaneously targeted unconventional consumer categories, pledging fresh allocations toward a nascent African sports and live entertainment vehicle. That strategy wagers on media broadcast rights, stadium real estate, and talent management, chasing a continental sports sector analysts estimate could reach $20 billion over the coming decade.