Last week in brief... Several of the larger investors in Africa's private capital ecosystem were involved in deals on the continent last week. The biggest, by far, was the launch of a $750 million pan-African pharmaceutical platform by Development Partners International, and two DFIs, then UK's CDC and the EU's European Bank for Reconstruction & Development. With a combined initial investment of $250 million, the three have acquired and merged two generic drug businesses - one in Egypt and the other in India - to form the foundation of the new pan-African platform business.
African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) has acquired a stake in MetroFibre Networx via a newly incorporated HoldCo, Digital Infrastructure Investment Holdings. The infrastructure is taking a minority stake in the fibre network operator using capital from two of the funds it currently manages, the IDEAS Managed Fund and AIIF 3. Ed Stumpf, who led the deal for AIIM, takes a seat on MetroFibre's board.
Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI) announced the first deal for its second education impact fund last week. The Education Investment Impact Fund of South Africa (or EduFund for short) is investing debt in Sifiso Learning Group, a 3-year old black-owned independent school operator. The financing will be used in the development of a new school in the Johannesburg suburb of Roodepoort.
African Capital Alliance (ACA) is backing a business focused on building a fintech platform across the continent. The Lagos-based private equity firm is investing $20 million in Accelerex for an undisclosed stake. The asset will be part of Capital Alliance Private Equity IV's portfolio.
Having backed the platform earlier this year, ARCH Emerging Markets Partners is investing in CrossBoundary Energy again, and, this time, facilitating the exit of several of the unit's first fund investors at an IRR of 15%. The capital will be used to push CrossBoundary's ongoing development of distributed commercial and industrial projects across the continent.
The IFC is considering an equity investment in Adumo, an Apis Partners and Crossfin Technology Holdings-backed payments platform which came into being last year following the acquisition of Sureswipe. If the proposed investment gets approved, the platform will have $15 million to support its plans.
The Facility for Energy Investments Off-Grid Energy Fund is investing additional debt into Bboxx, a well-known off-grid solar business on the continent. The Lion's Head Global Partners-managed fund is providing Bboxx with $4 million in financing which will be used to finance the firm's operations and expansion in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The fund last backed the firm in May last year.
Etop Ikpe, a founder of Cars45, has raised a seed round for his new venture. The round was led by TLcom Capital, who'd backed his former startup. Between them, the investor group is investing $3.4 million into Autochek, Ikpe's new venture, which will be used to hire more people, develop the firm's technology and expand in its home markets of Nigeria and Ghana.
In other venture news, Novastar Ventures has led a seed round for an insurtech startup with operations in Kenya and Uganda. The Nairobi-based investor together with Mercy Corps Ventures, Musha Ventures, GAN Ventures, and Zephyr Acorn is investing $2 million in the startup, Turaco, which will use the capital to expand its workforce, invest further in its technology and scale its operations.
That's it for this week. As always, you can review these and other stories by clicking through to this week's preview edition of the newsletter.
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
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