Adenia is one of very few private equity firms that acquire majority controlling equity stakes in mature African companies. It implemented an ambitious ESG transformation plan with its pharmaceutical company, Opham.

Adenia last year centred its value creation plan around the theme of 'increasing access to affordable, high-quality pharmaceutical products', having acquired Opham, Madagascar's leading pharmaceutical wholesaler in 2016.

The plan consisted of four major points:

· Rapidly expand Opham's generic medicines offerings, which can be distributed at a significantly lower price compared with speciality medicines. Last year 11.4 million boxes of medicine were distributed across Madagascar under Opham's generic medicine brand name Deska Pharma.

· Transform the distribution network to increase range and decrease delivery time. Opham has been able to decrease its delivery time by 50%, while increasing its vehicle fleet to 27 and coverage to the entire country, including 20% of its sales to small remote outlets.

· Improve the local healthcare environment. Work across the pharmaceutical and medical industries alongside government to combat the sale of expired and spoiled medicines and promote best practices.

· Support safe growth by expanding capacity with international standard facilities. In 2019 Opham inaugurated a new warehouse facility which improves efficiency and added 91% to capacity. The new warehouse follows industry international best practices, in terms of temperature control for sensitive medicines and environmentally-friendly infrastructure.

“When Adenia acquired Opham, the company was a family-run business with aging infrastructure and distributing mostly specialty medicines. Adenia decided to centre its value creation plan around the increase of access to affordable, high-quality pharmaceutical products,” said Florent de Boissie, principal at Adenia. "We invested in a brand new warehouse facility, expanded our own range of generic medicines, and developed our distribution network in rural Madagascar to make quality medicines accessible to all Malagasy.

"This award is a recognition of the impact we generated thanks to the Opham management team, backed by the shareholders." EF