Last week in brief...Two education deals in North Africa were responsible for 50% of Africa's private equity deal activity last week. In the first, Mediterrania Capital made its eighth and final deal for its second fund, taking a stake in Groupe Scolaire René Descartes, a private education provider in Tunisia. The capital from this latest investment will be used to expand the capacity of the group's two existing locations in Tunis, develop new sites elsewhere in Tunisia and enter the Algerian market.
The other education deal of the week involved DPI's education platform, KMR Holding Pédagogique, which agreed to to acquire Université Internationale de Casablanca from NASDAQ-listed Laureate Education.
Private equity fund manager DPI first backed KMR in 2014, helping the education provider grow significantly in Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa, almost quadrupling the size of its student enrollment. Following the acquisition, KMR, which also operates Université Privée de Marrakech, will serve more than 7,500 students at its four campuses in Casablanca, Marrakech and Dakar.
In the consumer sector meanwhile, Amethis Finance is backing Afriwara Group, who, through its subsidiary Société Nouvelle de Confiserie de Vridi, is a leading producer and distributor of confectionery, biscuits and snack products within Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. The Africa-focused private equity fund is making its thirteenth investment on behalf of its first fund and taking a significant minority stake in the snack food company.
The capital, which is fresh equity, will be used to support Afriwara's expansion plans, which are centered on becoming a regional champion in West Africa's packaged food market. The plans include acquisitions of local and regional companies to broaden the firm's distribution footprint.
We learnt that AfricInvest was involved in a TMT deal in December. The Tunis-based private equity firm made a growth capital investment in Buzzkito Network, an integrated media group based in Morocco. The deal is the first time Buzzkito's raised external financing since it launched in 2006. As with the other deals we reported on this week, the fresh funds will be used to support Buzzkito's expansion plans across the GCC.
SPEAR Capital has achieved a little more than 50% of its ultimate fundraising goal for its second fund. The Africa-focused private equity fund has landed $37.5 million so far, winning commitments from four European LPs. Ultimately targeting $75 million, SPEAR II's strategy will be to invest either equity or debt in consumer goods and manufacturing SMEs in South Africa, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and could expand into East Africa.
Starting this week, we've published some data gleaned from our reporting throughout 2017. We've looked at fundraising data, publishing the largest fund launches and fund final closes from last year. Look out for additional data points in the the next couple of weeks.
And finally, Enos Banda, former CEO of Eskom Enterprises has been tapped to head Anergi Holdings, the new electricity platform established by Africa Finance Corporation and Harith General Partners in late December. As CEO of Eskom's asset formation and maintenance arm, Banda oversaw a nine-fold net profit turnaround in his first year.
As always, you can review these and other stories by clicking through to this week’s preview issue of Africa Capital Digest.
Allan Cunningham is a senior media executive who has spent the last 15 years of his career working for some of the world’s most respected M&A and Private Equity media companies including Dow Jones’s publications Private Equity Analyst and VentureWire and most recently, The Deal. He has built a number of successful digital and event content businesses, both subscription and sponsor-supported, delivering information and content-marketing services to clients in the M&A and broader deal ecosystem. He recently struck out on his own and launched Rowayton Press, a multi-platform media company focused on the private capital opportunities in emerging and frontier markets. Mr. Cunningham holds a Bachelors degree from Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
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