Last week in brief... Generally, it was a much quieter week over the last seven days for Africa's private capital markets compared to the prior week. But what it lacked in volume was compensated for by variety.
The biggest deal of the week was a PIPE transaction. Britam Holdings, the announced that AfricInvest was investing $55 million to acquire an approximate 14.3% stake in the Nairobi Stock Exchange-listed insurer. The proposed transaction is structured through a special purpose vehicle set up on behalf of one of the Tinis-based private equity firm's newer funds, AfricInvest Fund III. The deal is subject to both regulatory and shareholder approval.
Using an innovative debt structure, responsAbility Investments has struck what’s described as an eight-figure debt deal with Mobisol, the provider of off-grid solar home systems. The transaction involves the establishment of a special purpose debt vehicle which will be known by the acronym MOOVE, which will be backed by two of reponsAbility’s energy funds.
The special purpose vehicle will support Mobisol's growth in Tanzania, improving its ability to provide financing for the electrification of over 15,000 households and small businesses. According to a company representative, the new structure is already exciting interest from a varied group of commercial and institutional investors who are keen to invest in simple and secure investment vehicle structures.
Hot on the heels of its investment in FSDH Merchant Bank last week, AFIG Funds has made its second financial services sector, finalizing an agreement to back Ghana's First Atlantic Bank. The investment capital will be used to bolster the Bank’s capital base, as well as help support its growth plans. The transaction is being done on behalf of AFIG Fund II, which according to the private equity firm’s website, is targeting $250 million to invest in businesses that exhibit the potential to become regional “blue chips” in West, Central and East Africa.
Musa Capital's Namibian mid-cap fund has reportedly completed its acquisition of Swanib Cables, a significant cable distributor in the South West African country. The private equity firm is acquiring the company from Powertech, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Altron, who originally acquired Swanib for R43 million in 2007. Terms of the sale to Musa Capital Namibia, which was filed with the country's Competition Commission in June, were undisclosed.
Hyperactive Milost Global was in the news again this week. This time, the New York-based private equity firm has agreed a pre-listing financing term sheet with Primewaterview, a real estate investment and development firm in Nigeria. The eye-popping $2 billion agreement is made up of $1.3 billion in equity, with the balance in debt. The capital will be used to support Primewaterview's pipeline of development projects in Nigeria before its eventual IPO filing on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.
In fund raising news, NBK Capital Partners announced that it held the final close for its second mezzanine fund last week. The MENA-focused alternative investment firm secured a total of $160 million for NBK Capital Partners Mezzanine Fund II, reportedly attracting strong demand from institutional investors and family offices. The new fund will follow the same investment strategy as its predecessor, backing middle-market businesses in consumer-centric sectors in the region with mezzanine capital.
In SAVCA's latest survey of VC activity released last week, the industry association reports that 2016 saw a significant increase in capital employed in South Africa's venture capital asset class. The total jumped from R372 million in 2015 to R872 million in 2016, an increase of 134%. Te research surveyed 56 fund managers, only analyzing data on concluded deals and transactions between 2014 and 2016. In total, the period saw R3.5 billion in venture capital invested across 461 deals.
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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