Last week in brief...Amethis had another busy week last week. The Africa-focused private equity fund manager followed up its exit from Fidelity Bank Ghana to LeapFrog Investments the week before last with news of another exit and a fund close last week.

The exit was another secondary sale. This time, Paris-based Amethishas sold its 22% stake in Sodigaz GrouptoAfrican Infrastructure Investment Managers, or AIIM. Amethis first backed the Burkinabe distributor of LPG bottled gas in 2017 via the Amethis West Africa fund, a €45 million sub-investment vehicle of Amethis's first fund. A representative declined to disclose how much the stake sale's returns are for the fund.

Amethis also wrapped upthe first close for its second MENA fund last week, winning commitments totaling 70% of the firm’s final target. The fund, Amethis MENA II, now has €85 million (or approximately $101 million) which Amethis raised from a variety of investors. These included DFIs such asEuropean Bank for Reconstruction & Development,European Investment Bank,International Finance Corporation,andProparco, as well as a group of qualified private investors built in partnership with theEdmond de Rothschild group, Amethis’s original underwriter.

The fund will make growth equity investments in SMEs and midcap businesses in the Middle East and North Africa region, taking either control or minority positions in the firms it backs from investments sized between €5 million up to as much as €15 million. Its strategy will be led and implemented by Amethis professionalsWilfried Poyet,Adnane Zerhouni, andToufic Khoueiry.

Africa-related fundraising was buoyant last week compared to most weeks so far in 2021.Sanlam Investmentslaunched a new debt fundto invest in environmentally sustainable infrastructure projects in South Africa. The fund, which already has R500 million (or $35 million) in anchor commitments, is aiming to raise a total of R5 billion (or $350 million) by the time it holds its final close which it will use for debt deals in several infrastructure sectors such as renewable energy, transportation, communication, health, and water.

The Energy Access Relief Fund, an energy debt fund backed by 16 governments, foundations, and investors,was launched with commitmentstotaling $68 million last week. The fund, which is managed bySIMA, has been coordinated by impact investment manager Acumen and is looking to raise over $80 million to invest in subordinated, low-interest debt deals in 90 or so energy access companies in Africa and Asia. The fund's investors to date include public and private institutions such asCDC Group,The Rockefeller Foundation,DFC,The World Bank, theShell, andIKEA Foundations, and others.

Early-stage investorLoftyInc Capital Managementannounced the first close for its third fund last week,garnering commitments from a variety of investors, a substantial number of whom are African high net worth investors, Millenials, startup founders, as well as institutions. Among them areFBNQuest Funds,The Green Investment Club, andAndela’s CEO and Co-Founder,Jeremy Johnson.

The $10 million fund targets investment opportunities in Seed-to-Series A stage technology and technology-enabled startups across Africa, and has already made 25 investments in startups operating in the eCommerce, fintech, media, logistics, and healthcare sectors. Initial ticket sizes are expected to range from $50,000 to $250,000, with the fund having the potential to invest as much as $1 million in follow-on deals.

Two small agribusiness deals took place last week. In the larger of the two, Nigeria'sAgricorp International, a spice producing and exporting startup,raised a mix of equity and working capital financingfrom a trio of investors led byVami Nigeria. Of the total $17.5 million funding, Vami is providing $11.5 million as equity with the balance being invested byOne CapitalandAFEX. The 3-year old startup will use this Series A funding round to increase its processing capacity to 7,000 metric tonnes.

Across the continent in Uganda,Pearl Capital PartnersandFCA Investmentshave teamed up to invest inAMFRI Farms, an organic farming, processing, and exporting business. Between them,the investors are putting €1.3 million to workin the agribusiness which began operations in 1998. AMFRI will use the capital to expand production at its own estate as well as among its network of certified smallholder farmers. It will also invest in increasing its processing capacity and sell more of its output to the wider organic food market.

MSA Capitaland88mphhave led a group of investors backing a healthy seed round raised by African payments company,PawaPay. The five investors in the round are investing $9 million in the startup which will use the capital to scale up its operational presence, hire more people, and penetrate more markets on the continent.

PawaPay’s customers can access all telco mobile money systems and receive and send payments to hundreds of millions of people. The startup handles local operations, compliance, regulatory cover, and bank accounts, making it as simple as clicking a button to start receiving payments in a new market.

And finally, three items of job news.Ahmed El Orabyhas beenpromoted to the partnershipranks ofSPE Capitala year after joining the private equity fund management firm fromEzdehar Management. He'll bring his extensive private equity, strategy consulting, and financial expertise to bear on deals made by SPE Capital’s first, independent fund, AIF I,which closed in January this yearwith $258 million in commitments.

EBRD's new Country Director for Moroccowill beAntoine Sallé de Chou, an 8-year veteran of the Bank who currently heads the Bank’s operations in neighboring Tunisia. He joined EBRD in December 2013 as Senior Counsellor for Strategy and Policy based in London before moving to Tunis in 2017 to head EBRD’s operations in Tunisia, leading a 27-member team and overseeing the scale-up of the Bank’s investment levels in the country.

And after nearly 5 years co-leading theEast African Private Equity & Venture Capital Association(or EAVCA),Esther Ndetiisleaving the industry associationto take up a position atUnconventional Capital, a funding platform investing in entrepreneurs and their nascent businesses on the continent.

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

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,

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