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Actis, the UK-listed private equity firm, has divested from Ikeja City Mall, the Lagos-based shopping centre.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Actis said it sold its 60 percent stake in Ikeja City Mall to two South African firms, Hyprop Investments and Attacq Limited. Other minority shareholders in Ikeja City Mall – Paragon Holdings (20 percent) and RMB Westport (20 percent) – also sold their stakes to the South African firms.

With the latest divestitures, Hyprop Investments now owns 75 percent of Ikeja City Mall, while Attacq Limited owns the remaining 25 percent.

Actis signed a partnership to build the Ikeja City Mall, the largest shopping centre in Lagos, in 2010 with Paragon Holdings, the Nigerian investment group, and RMB Westport, the African-focused real estate firm controlled by South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank and US-based Westport Group. The mall was opened in December 2011 and currently attracts up to 800,000 visitors per month.

“This sale reflects the strong retail opportunity in West Africa and the interest of quality institutional investors in sub-Saharan real estate assets,” said David Morley, Head of Real Estate at Actis. “This is the sixth exit from the first Actis real estate fund. It is a continuation of Actis’ proven cash to cash track record of delivering A-grade real estate assets in sub-Saharan Africa. Over two funds, Actis has committed to 17 institutional quality developments in seven countries totalling a gross asset value of $1.3bn.”

The sale of Ikeja City Mall will be the second divestiture for Actis this year after it sold Mouka Limited, the mattress maker, to Abraaj Group, an emerging markets private equity firm, in July. Actis has divested from several holdings including Diamond Bank, The Palms Mall, Mouka Limited, UAC Nigeria, and Starcomms. Actis’ current investments in Nigeria include: Heritage Place, Lagos; Jabi Lake Mall, Abuja; and Seven Energy.

Actis, which has over $7 billion in funds under management, has invested more than $300 million in Nigeria, according to Natali Kolbe, a partner at Actis.

Chibuike Oguh is Financial Nigeria's Frontier Markets Analyst