Last week in brief... Overall, it was a relatively quiet week for both deals and fund closes last week in Africa. Of the private equity deals reported, one was a portfolio exit, another a follow-on investment and the third a venture capital round.
Metier provided us with the exit. The South African private equity firm has inked an agreement to sell Inhep Electronics Holdings to Assa Abloy. Metier first acquired the company in late 2007 via the Lereko Metier Capital Growth Fund. Terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, were not disclosed.
The Abraaj Group, in partnership with Danone, are investing an additional $25 million in Fan Milk, the West African dairy producer which they both originally backed in 2013.
The fresh funds will be used to boost the production capacity of the firm's Ghanaian operations by adding three new production lines to its factory in Accra. As well as boosting the firm's ability to meet the demand for yoghurt and other dairy products which is expanding in West Africa's second largest economy, the new production facilities will allow Fan Milk's Ghana business to launch FanMaxx a new vitamin-enriched yoghurt drink.
EchoVC+, a new investment vehicle formed by EchoVC Partners and TPG/Satya, has made its first investment joining a consortium of investors supporting Frontier Car Group's $22 million round in late May. As part of the deal, Eghosa Omoigui, EchoVC's Managing General Partner, will take a seat on Frontier Car Group's board.
Headquartered in Berlin, Frontier Car Group has operations in Chile, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. Launched in 2016 by Sujay Tyle, Peter Lindholm and Andre Kussman, the company has experienced rapid growth building second-hand car marketplaces in the five countries in which it operates. These include Cars45.com, a marketplace in Nigeria which received backing from Frontier Cars Group in early May as part of its Series A round.
In fundraising news, Sanlam and Africa Infrastructure Securities are teaming up and launching an infrastructure fund to target opportunities across the continent. The fund will be denominated in US dollars and will target equity and quasi-equity investment opportunities in infrastructure projects that will drive economic growth, have beneficial social consequences and boost the continent's energy asset base.
The African Local Currency Bond Fund, an investment vehicle established by the KfW Development Bank, announced it had received a total of $40 million in debt and equity commitments earlier in May from the IFC and Financial Sector Deepening Africa, a non-profit funded by the UK Government.
Of the $40 million, $20 million is being provided as debt by the IFC, with FSD Africa providing the balance as equity. Once completed, the fund's total equity will stand at almost $70 million. Ultimately, the fund aims to have a total of $150 million in committed capital by the end of 2017, which it plans to deploy by the end of 2018.
Swiss Re has spent 100 million euros or approximately $112 million to acquire an undisclosed, minority stake in Manzi Finances, a financial services holding company based in Cote d'Ivoire which owns NSIA Participations. In March 2015, private equity group Amethis Finance and National Bank of Canada acquired a 26% stake in NSIA from Emerging Capital Partners.
The Abidjan-based company will use the capital to consolidate its financial base and support its expansion strategy. NSIA is the leading financial services companies in Francophone Africa, and also owner of NSIA Bank Cote d’Ivoire, the country’s third largest, and NSIA Bank Guinee, which was launched in 2010.
According to Bloomberg, The Carlyle Group is eyeing two opportunities in Egypt for its $700 million Africa buyout fund. Apparently, the Washington-based investor will back each with between $30 million and $100 million. Once the deals have been completed, the fund will be about 80% invested.
That's it for this week. As always, you can review these and other stories by clicking through to this week’s complete 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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