Unlike the last couple of weeks, fundraising did not feature in Africa's private capital investment world last week. Deals did though, with some of the continent's better-known fund managers involved in backing or exiting businesses.
The first deal sees three of them participating in one form or another. Investec Asset Management went ahead and added a fifth asset to its second fund's portfolio. The transaction, a private equity secondary deal, sees the private equity arm of the South African financial services firm acquire Grupo San Jose & Lopez, a major road freight transporter between North Africa and Europe, giving fellow-private equity investors AfricInvest and Mediterrania Capital Partners full exits from their stakes. Terms were undisclosed.
AfricInvest and Mediterrania Capital Partners first backed SJL in mid-2013, joining forces to take a minority stake in the company. Eventually, the two firms acquired the remainder of the company, completing the deal to assume full ownership in August 2015. They likely earned a solid return, given SJL's performance over the period which tripled EBITDA on the back of 38% in cumulative growth.
In another full exit, Actis has sold its remaining stake in Edita Foods to a large group of investors from the USA, UK, Germany, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. The sale of the 7.5% stake was executed via an accelerated book build on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
Actis first backed the North African branded snack food business in 2013, acquiring a 30% stake in a $102 million deal. In early 2015, the private equity firm partially exited its holding in Edita Foods, selling 15% of its stake in an oversubscribed IPO. At the time, the IPO price of EGP 18.5 million gave Edita Foods a market capitalization of EGP 6.7 billion or approximately $890 million.
Quantum Global, a Swiss-headquartered private equity investment firm focused on Africa, is launching a new power development platform on behalf of QG Africa Mezzanine, its $250 million investment fund. QG Power Africa is being established in partnership with Tomé International and International Power Corporation and will focus on opportunities to develop power assets across sub-Saharan Africa.
West Africa-focused Synergy Capital is backing Northstar Finance Services, a platform company building a portfolio of financial services assets. The capital is being used to support several investments being made by Northstar, which aims to become a leading retail financial services brand in West Africa. These include establishing interests in Safetrust Nigeria, a large mortgage bank, Northstar Home Finance, a new mortgage provider in Ghana, Avance Insurance, a Ghana-based life assurer and savings business and Ping Express, a Money Transfer Operator which recently won its operating license from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In South Africa, meanwhile, Naspers, the continent’s largest listed company, is investing almost $70 million in Takealot which is also backed by Tiger Global Management. The deal, which is subject to Competition Commission approval, will increase Naspers’ stake in the South African e-commerce company to 53.5%, with Tiger Global’s stake shrinking to 34%.
In the latest in a series of recent moves, asset management and advisory firm Imara Holdings was de-listed from the Venture Capital Board of the Botswana Stock Exchange at the end of March. The news was expected, following the firm’s acquisition by FWA, an investment holding company formed by Fleming Wulfsohn Africa earlier in the month.
FWA, which is backed by several family offices from the USA, Europe and South Africa, first took a financial position in Imara in 2015 since when, FWA’s founders, Hector Fleming, Harry Wulfsohn and Tom Gaffney have been involved in Imara’s operations. It’s expected that the acquisition and subsequent de-listing will help reduce the company’s cost base, simplify its core focus and concentrate management efforts to grow the group’s underlying divisions.
And finally this week, Frannie Léautier is stepping down from her role as Senior Vice President at the African Development Bank due to family reasons. She joined the development finance institution in March last year. Charles Boamah, the Bank’s current Vice President for Finance, is stepping into the Senior Vice President role. Akinwumi Adesina, the Bank's President welcomed his appointment, saying “This is a seamless transition. Charles Boamah brings over 25 years of development finance experience and deep knowledge of the Bank.”
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.
cloud technology
ONEtoONE Asset Management ha realizado su quinta inversión fuera de n...
