Last week in brief... Impact investors featured strongly last week in Africa's private capital markets. In terms of deals, one came with a twist. Usually focused on sub-Saharan opportunities, One Thousand & One Voices, a private family capital fund is making an investment in the USA for the first time. The new addition to its portfolio, True Gentlemen's Jerky, is a San Francisco-based healthy snack goods company. A complementary deal to other companies its portfolio, a potential benefit of the deal will be to provide them access to an established distribution network in America.
News about two impact funds also came to light last week. Investisseurs & Partenaires or I&P is launching a new impact education fund for Côte d'Ivoire in partnership with Comoé Capital and the Jacobs Foundation. It'll focus on backing small and medium-sized education businesses in the West African country with capital, support and subsidized technical assistance.
In the second of two fund-related impact items, Capria Ventures announced that it is making a commitment to Lateral Capital's Africa Opportunities fund. Lateral focuses on investment opportunities across the capital table in early-stage and growth ventures in sub-Saharan Africa.
Mediterrania Capital seems to be on the verge of holding a first close for its third, and largest, fund at the end of this month. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is committing €15 million to the rumored €100 million close and seems willing to consider upping that commitment in subsequent closes. Launched in March this year, the fund will invest in opportunities in North Africa and a select number of sub-Saharan countries.
The most complex deal of the week was pulled off by SPE Capital. Earlier in the year, SPE embarked on a deal to restructure its holding in Sotipapier, entering into a transaction made up of three elements, namely, a dividend recap of the firm's stake in Sotipapier, an additional partial exit for Intaj II and a club deal with local institutional investors in a capital increase for the firm. The deal has now been successfully completed.
The biggest deal of the week saw Milost Global agree to back Kenyan real estate development and investment company Kings Pride Properties in a $450 million debt/equity deal.The firm plans to use the funds to expand its development activity of additional affordable residential properties, hotels, office complexes, shopping malls and business parks in Nairobi, Mombasa and other targeted cities on the continent.
To wrap up what was quite a quiet week for deals in general, we turn to the venture space. Kalon Venture Partners, the former Grotech, is investing R10 million to take a minority stake in South African fintech startup i-Pay. The deal, which was announced to the 12J VCC's shareholders in the middle of last week, is the third transaction of the last four months for the fund, a testament to "the unbelievable dealflow we are currently seeing" the firm said.
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.
cloud technology axon
ONEtoONE Asset Management ha realizado su quinta inversión fuera de n...
