Last week in brief...There was some notable deal and fundraising activity in Africa's private capital markets last week. Global alternative investment giant TPG dipped its toe into the continent;s investment market once again. Mediterrania Capital announced the first deal for its third fund. Partech Ventures launched what's expected to become the largest dedicated early-stage venture fund for the continent. And Helios and GE Ventures teamed up to back one of the continent's higher-profile off-grid solar pays for their Series D round. And there was more, but let's get started with these.
For its fifth deal in Africa, TPG Growth announced that it is backing TRACE, a multi-platform media and entertainment company and one of sub-Saharan Africa's leading youth brands alongside Satya Capital and Evolution Media. While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the investment trio are acquiring digital entertainment group MTG's stake, who, according to a document on TRACE's website, owned 75% of the company. TRACE's founder and management team hold the balance of the shares.
Mediterrania Capital has now made its first investment for its third fund. Having backed Groupe Scolaire René Descartes for its final deal for Fund II the week before last, the private equity fund manager has teamed up with DEG, Proparco and South Suez to back construction firm Travaux Généraux de Construction de Casablancafor its debut investment for Fund III. The fresh capital which will be used to support TGCC's expansion plans.
After a couple of hints over the past few months, Partech Ventures launched what's expected to become the largest venture capital fund focused on digital technology startups in sub-Saharan Africa last week. Partech Africa Fund has already received some significant commitments from several DFIs and a number of corporate investors and is well on its way to the $120 million it's targeting by final close. The fund's strategy will be to invest in early stage growth funding opportunities in companies with products and services with large addressable markets. Initial deal ticket sizes will likely range between $0.5 million to $5 million.
One of the off-grid solar sector's higher-profile companies, Off Grid Electric, landed an investment from Helios Investment Partners and GE Ventures last week. The Series D round will help the company in its product development and expansion plans, among which is partnership with EDF to offer off-grid solar solutions to households in Ghana. The deal marks the second investment in Off Grid Electric for Helios who invested $10 million in firm in August 2016. Today, the firm provides power to over 150,000 homes and businesses in Tanzania, Rwanda, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, and, according to one of its founders, has achieved operating profitability in its largest market.
Staying in the power sector, Husk Power Systems, a rural distributed utility company operating mini-grids in India and Tanzania, has announced an equity investment from a group of backers. Shell Technology Ventures, Swedfund and ENGIE are the investors in question. As well as providing its customers with power, Husk proactively advises them on productive uses for the power, helping local entrepreneurs launch new businesses. The company is forecasting rapid growth in the next 4 years, anticipating the addition of more than 300 mini-grids in India and Tanzania to serve over 100,000 more customers.
Atlas Mara has taken the opportunity to increase its stake in Union Bank of Nigeria. The African financial services platform spent $75 million in a recent rights offering, adding 3.5% to its stake in the Bank. It now holds 48%. Union Bank launched the rights issue in September 2017, with shares being made available to shareholders at the ratio of five new ordinary shares for every seven previously held.
In an agribusiness impact deal, Injaro Investments and Belgian DFI BIO are joining forces to back AviNiger, a poultry farm in Niger. The undisclosed investment, made on behalf of Injaro's agricultural impact fund, will be used to build a state-of-the-art egg production farm capable of producing more than 35 million eggs annually. Once completed, AviNiger will be the largest egg producer in the West African country.
Finally this week, we report a number of job changes. Wendel Group has promoted Stéphane Heuzé to the position of Managing Director. He's been based in the firm's Casablanca office since 2014. Carlyle's Head of External Affairs for EMEA, Rory Macmillan, has also been made a Managing Director in the alternative investment giant's latest round of promotions. And White & Case has added two new M&A partners to its office in Johannesburg. Gary Felthun and Craig Atkinson are both joining the international law from ENSafrica.
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
GridBeyond, proveedor líder de plataformas de energía y redes inteli...
