In August 2025, Cameroonian group Cadyst acquired Grands Moulins du Cameroun and its Congolese counterpart from French group Castel for FCFA 50 billion. A few months earlier, Swiss trader Vitol had taken a 30% interest from Italy’s Eni in the Baleine oil project off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire, for USD 1.65 billion. Two deals, two countries, two sectors, but the same underlying signal: the M&A market in the CFA franc zone, long a marginal niche, is maturing and attracting an increasingly diverse range of players. This is what reveal the 6th edition of KPMG’s Africa Deal Tracker, published in 2026, and “Africa – Holding firm: M&A activity in the continent is expected to stay strong in 2026 despite ongoing uncertainty”. Supplemented by several recent Cameroonian and Ivorian transactions, to offer concrete takeaways for executives and investors active in both countries.

A niche market gaining structure at continental level

In 2025, Africa’s M&A market recorded 1,363 transactions, down from 1,377 in 2024, a marginal 1% decline that mostly reflects a stabilisation after several years of rapid growth, according to the 6th edition of KPMG’s Africa Deal Tracker. Of that total, the two CFA franc zones (CEMAC and UEMOA) accounted for 131 deals, or less than one transaction in ten. At continental scale, the market therefore remains a niche.

Niche, however, does not mean stagnant. Still according to HSF Kramer, the value of inbound deals — acquisitions of African companies by foreign investors — rose by more than 40% year-on-year continent-wide, while outbound deal value jumped by close to 85%, driven by the rise of regional groups now acquiring assets beyond their home markets. This is precisely the trend behind several of the notable transactions seen in Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire since 2025. For 2026, the firm expects activity to remain robust despite ongoing global geopolitical uncertainty.

Cameroon: agribusiness consolidation takes centre stage

In Cameroon, the most significant deal of the period remains the acquisition, completed in August 2025, of Grands Moulins du Cameroun and its Congolese counterpart by the Cadyst group, led by industrialist Célestin Tawamba, for FCFA 50 billion. Divested by French group Castel, which has been progressively exiting African milling, the deal propels Cadyst into a leadership position, with close to 40% market share in flour in Cameroon and 32% in Congo. It illustrates a broader pattern: over an eighteen-month period, Castel, through its agribusiness arm Somdiaa, exited its milling assets in Togo, Cameroon, Congo and then Gabon, clearing the way for regional.

Cameroon’s market also saw, in September 2026, the sale of a 10% stake in AGL Cameroun to CCML, a company linked to businessman Baba Danpullo, a reminder that minority stake acquisitions, often less widely reported than full buyouts, remain an active driver of ownership change in the country.

Cameroon’s banking sector also saw a transaction of major scale: the Cameroonian state’s acquisition of a 58.08% stake in Société Générale Cameroun, taking its total holding to 83.68%. The sale agreement was signed on 15 July 2025 between Yaoundé and Société Générale’s Paris headquarters, for FCFA 129 billion; the deal closed on 12 May 2026, following a no-objection notice from the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC), and the bank was renamed General Bank of Cameroon (GBC). The move is part of a broader pullback by major French banking networks across the continent, following earlier exits in Burkina Faso, Congo, Mauritania, Chad and Equatorial Guinea.

In a different vein, the acquisition of a 74.69% stake in Chococam by investment fund Minkama Capital, for FCFA 46.68 billion, announced in November 2025, illustrates the growing weight of local and diaspora-backed private equity in industrial-scale transactions, an encouraging signal for Cameroonian investors abroad considering their own equity stakes.

Côte d’Ivoire: energy leads, agribusiness follows close behind

In Côte d’Ivoire, the largest deal by value remains the September 2025 acquisition, by Swiss trader Vitol, of a 30% interest from Eni in the Baleine offshore oil project, for USD 1.65 billion, one of only five inbound deals worth more than USD 1 billion recorded across the entire continent in 2025. The transaction confirms the growing weight of Côte d’Ivoire’s energy sector in foreign capital flows into Francophone Africa.

The country is also asserting itself as a regional hub for agribusiness consolidation. Ivorian group Avos, led by Jean-Marie Ackah, acquired Somdiaa’s Togolese and then Gabonese (SMAG) assets in 2025, and is reportedly now the frontrunner to take over the entire holding. That deal that, if completed, would make Avos one of the leading private agribusiness groups in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa. More recently, in January 2026, Société Africaine de Plantation d’Hévéas (SAPH) acquired the shares of Société Civile Agricole du Sud-Ouest (SCASO), reinforcing its position as the country’s leading natural rubber producer. Côte d’Ivoire’s banking sector is undergoing a comparable consolidation, illustrated by Banque Nationale d’Investissement (BNI), alongside pension funds CNPS and CGRAE, taking over BNP Paribas’s local stake, a drive to build national financial champions that could inspire similar moves elsewhere in the region.

What these figures mean for executives and investors in OHADA area

Three takeaways emerge from this data. First, the gradual withdrawal of long-established groups is creating buyout opportunities for well-capitalised regional players, both Cameroonian and Ivorian, who now have the financial capacity and credibility to bid for regionally significant divestments. Second, energy and agribusiness account for most of the activity observed in both countries, which calls for legal expertise tailored to these specific sectors: oil and gas contracts, agricultural land tenure, OHADA law, competition law, and sector-specific authorisations. Third, the growing share of minority stake deals alongside full buyouts reflects a diversification of market-entry strategies, each requiring distinct legal and tax treatment, particularly where a transaction is structured using composite securities or involves diaspora investors.

For any executive considering a divestment, a fundraising round or an acquisition in Cameroon or Côte d’Ivoire, these figures confirm one thing above all: the window is open, but legal structuring and due diligence remain decisive in a market where the exit of long-established groups and the arrival of new entrants are rapidly redrawing competitive positions.

Key takeaways

Africa’s M&A market recorded 1,363 transactions in 2025 (-1% vs. 2024), of which 131 were in the CFA franc zones (CEMAC + UEMOA) — less than one deal in ten, according to KPMG’s Africa Deal Tracker and HSF Kramer’s Africa – Holding firm report (February 2026).
South Africa, Egypt and Kenya account for roughly 70% of continental deal value; Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire remain niche but growing markets.
In Cameroon, three notable 2025-2026 deals: Cadyst’s acquisition of Grands Moulins du Cameroun and Congo (FCFA 50bn), the Cameroonian state’s acquisition of Société Générale Cameroun (FCFA 129bn, now General Bank of Cameroon), and Minkama Capital’s acquisition of Chococam (FCFA 46.68bn).
In Côte d’Ivoire, energy leads by value (Vitol-Eni, Baleine project, USD 1.65bn), while agribusiness and banking consolidate around regional players such as Avos, SAPH and BNI.

The exit of legacy groups and the rise of regional champions are creating buyout opportunities that call for rigorous legal support, from due diligence through to closing.

Considering an M&A project in Cameroon or Côte d’Ivoire?

Our firm advises executives and investors on the legal structuring of their M&A transactions, from due diligence through to closing. Contact us to discuss your project at pbayemi@etoileavocats.com or +33 6 68 91 23 86