Cordiant Capital, a fund manager specializing in emerging markets investments, has closed a US$15 million loan to SA Taxi Development Finance, a South Africa-based mini-bus taxi finance provider. The loan was structured through Cordiant Emerging Loan Fund IV and is part of a six-year, US$36 million multi-currency loan facility with… Read More
East Africa-focused private equity and venture capital investor Fanisi Capital has invested US$2.1 million in European Foods Africa, a Kenya-based food distribution and processing firm that sells pizzas, berries and fresh juice. The company intends to use the new investment to expand its business within Kenya. Read More
Pan-African mezzanine fund manager Vantage Capital and Dutch development bank FMO have exited their ZAR220 million (approximately US$31 million) investment in Safripol, a South Africa-based plastic polymer manufacturer. In 2007, Vantage Capital and FMO funded Thebe Investment Corporation, a South Africa-based black economic empowerment investment company, to acquire a stake… Read More
Private equity firm Development Partners International (DPI) has closed its second pan-Africa-focused fund, ADP II, with approximately US$725 million in capital commitments. Investors in the fund include corporate and public pension funds, endowments and foundations, funds of funds, family offices and development finance institutions from the United States, Europe, the… Read More
Global growth markets investor The Abraaj Group has reached a final close for its Sub-Saharan Africa-focused Abraaj Africa Fund III with US$990 million in capital commitments, surpassing its original target of US$800 million. The fund intends to invest in mid-sized companies, diversified by sector, country and deal type. Investors in… Read More
Amethis Finance, a fund manager that provides debt and equity financing to companies in Africa, and National Bank of Canada, a commercial bank, have agreed to acquire a 26 percent stake in NSIA Participations, a Cote d’Ivoire-based financial group, from pan-African private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners (ECP). ECP will… Read More
Private equity firm Verod Capital has fully exited Nigeria-based property development and construction company HFP Engineering and has partially exited Nigeria-based aluminum can manufacturer GZ Industries (GZI). Verod initially acquired a 33 percent stake in HFP in 2008 and a 45.3 percent stake in GZI in 2009. Post-transaction, Verod continues… Read More
Pan-African private equity firm AfricInvest has entered into an agreement with Elephant Group, a Nigeria-based agricultural commodities trading, production, processing, marketing and distribution company, to acquire a minority stake in the company. Elephant Group intends to use the funding to increase its market share in commodities trading and expand its… Read More
The value of private equity deals in Africa reached their second-highest level on record in 2014 as population growth and an increasingly stable political climate helped drive international interest in the continent. The total value of deals in Africa last year was $8.1bn, just short of the $8.3bn high recorded in 2007, according… Read More
Bridge International Academies, backed by investors including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, has opened more than 400 schools in Kenya in a bid to bring inexpensive, private education to some of the world’s poorest children. In rural Kenya, 6-year-old Sharon Ndunge, sitting in a rough-built classroom with chicken-coop wire for windows,… Read More
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