Last week in brief... Actual deals proved to be somewhat elusive in Africa last week. The only one reported was an exit, and its value was at the lower end of the scale. The seller, on the other hand, was significant. The Abraaj Group has reportedly sold its stake in Cairo Investment and Real Estate Development (CIRA) back to the education company's founding family. The embattled private equity firm first backed CIRA in 2014, ending up with a 35% holding in the company which it has now disposed for over $20 million. The acquiring entity is Social Impact, a business owned by CIRA founder Hassan El-Qula's family.

Fund-related news, however, was relatively plentiful. At the behest of LPs, Amethis Finance is taking over the management of the €75 million Capital North Africa Venture Fund II. The specific reasons why the LPs have made the change from the fund's prior manager, Capital Invest Group, were not given. The fund, which has been renamed Amethis Maghreb Fund I, is almost fully invested, having already built a portfolio of seven companies. It's estimated that there is enough capital left for one more transaction, before the remaining capital has all been fully deployed.

Fairfax Africa is raising more capital for additional African investments as well as some more general corporate purposes. The offering, which is being underwritten by a syndicate led by a trio of Canadian investment banks, RBC Capital Markets, Scotia Bank and TD Securities, will raise at least $150 million. As part of the offering, parent company Fairfax Financial and another, as yet unnamed institutional investor, have committed to take up 66% of the offering.

Meanwhile South Africa's Agile Capital is raising its third Africa private equity fund which is double the size of its immediate predecessor. Formerly known as Zico Capital, the investor's R500 million ($40 million) second fund is almost fully invested, prompting the on-balance sheet investor to raise R1 billion or about $80 million, primarily underwritten by long-term partner, South African private equity investor, RMB Corvest. This is the latest of a number of joint initiatives the two firms have undertaken, having enjoyed an extensive and synergistic relationship going back some time.

In venture capital news, the IFC is considering an equity investment in Vezeeta, a digital healthcare company headquartered in Cairo. The DFI's board pf directors are scheduled to meet on July 19th to review a potential $1 million investment in the firm. Owned by a group of shareholders that includes the firm's two co-founders and a handful of venture firms, Vezeeta today has operations in Egypt and Jordan. The company has plans to expand into Saudi Arabia and the broader MENA region in the near future.

We end this week's piece with news of another GC hire. Sebastian Dreschler, most recently the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of NASDAQ-listed TerraForm Power, joins The CrossBoundary Group in the role with immediate effect. He will be based in the Africa-focused advisory and private equity investment firm's office in Washington DC.

That's it for this week. As always, you can review these and other stories by clicking through to this week's edition of the newsletter.

Allan Cunningham

Allan Cunningham

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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