On February 10, the Cameroonian government completed payment to British investment fund Actis for the acquisition of its 51% stake in electricity distributor Eneo, according to Investir au Cameroun. The payment was made six days ahead of the contractual deadline of February 16 and was financed under the 2026 state budget, a source said.
The transaction, carried out without a public announcement, is valued at CFA78 billion and concludes more than two years of negotiations between Yaoundé and Actis, which had entered Eneo’s capital in 2014.
An interministerial working committee has been established to manage the transition. The new management structure has not yet been disclosed. Authorities have stated that jobs will be preserved and service continuity ensured. “This operation does not entail any change to the status or rights of Eneo employees,” the ministers of Finance and of Water and Energy said in a joint statement at the time of the agreement’s signing.
The agreement formalizing Actis’s exit was signed on November 19 at the Ministry of Finance, in the presence of Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé, Water and Energy Minister Gaston Eloundou Essomba and a delegation from Actis. Following the deal, the state now holds 95% of Eneo’s capital, with the remaining 5% reserved for employees. The reshaped shareholding structure effectively renationalizes the electricity distribution concessionaire and opens a new phase of governance.
On January 22 in Douala, during a meeting with business leaders, Gaston Eloundou Essomba presented what he described as the “first 100 days of action” following the takeover. The minister characterized the crisis facing Eneo as primarily economic rather than technical.
The recovery plan is built around three pillars: renegotiating debt with local banks to extend maturities, gradually clearing arrears owed by public entities and reducing operating costs.
The strategy is aligned with the Energy Compact signed in August 2025, which sets a target of 3,000 megawatts of installed capacity by 2030 and aims to expand electricity access to eight million additional people.
Speaking before more than 200 business representatives gathered at the headquarters of Gecam in Bonanjo, industrial leaders called for transparent dialogue and operational monitoring tools to track progress in generation and distribution, which they described as essential to maintaining investor confidence.
Amina Malloum
