Last week in brief...Deal types and sizes related to Africa's private capital markets varied widely last week. At the high end, a couple of IPO-related items hogged the limelight. Towards the lower end, venture investments predominated, but still involved several millions dollars each in direct fund investments. The dispute between Angola's sovereign wealth fund and its private equity fund manager, QGIAM, took another turn. And two prominent Africa-focused investors got new jobs.
We'll start with the IPOs, where there was both good and bad news.South African glass packaging manufacturer Consol has pulled the plug on its plans to re-list on the main board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The move follows a tepid reception from investors for the shares offered via the private placement process. As we reported a couple of weeks ago, the company had previously been listed on the JSE until 2007, when it was acquired in a R6.1 billion buyout by a consortium of private equity investors led by Brait. In pricing the offering at between 1.5 rand and 6.5 rand, Consol was hoping to raise as much as R3 billion or $240 million, but has shelved its plans for for the time being.
On a more positive IPO note, Libstar Holdings is being valued at approximately $692 million. The food and personal care business is aiming to raise up to R1.5 billion (or approximately $123 million) when it lists on May 9th. Existing shareholders, including majority stakeholder The Abraaj Group and PIC are also putting some of their shares in the pot, allowing them partial exits from their investments.
Vantage Capital, one of Africa's largest mezzanine investors, is making its first investment in Kenya and backing the Rosslyn Riviera Shopping Mall in Nairobi. The fund manager is investing $8 million for its seventh deal for its third fund, the $280 million Vantage Capital III. In operation since last year the mall offers customers over 18,000 square metres of high-quality grocery and fashion shopping outlets as well as similar dining, health, wellness and entertainment establishments.
MENA-focused BECO Capital has led a group of venture capital investors backing Swvl, an Egyptian ride-sharing startup. Between them, the group are investing $8 million in the firm's Series A round which is reportedly the largest amount of funding raised by an Egyptian technology startup so far. Over the next three years, Swivl plans to invest some $17 million in Egypt as well as penetrate other emerging markets in the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa.
In another venture club deal, the IFC, Orange Digital Ventures and Social Capital are teaming up to back Africa's Talking. The $8.6 million Series A round was led by the IFC, who earn a board seat as part if the deal. The fresh capital will be used to support Africa Talking's expansion plans. Although based in Nairobi, the company has already started tackling markets in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Partech Ventures made its maiden investment for the Partech Africa fund last week. The largest venture capital fund dedicated to digital technology startups in sub-Saharan Africa led the $3 million Series A round for TradeDepot, a SaaS platform for FMCG distribution on the continent. The fresh capital will be used support TradeDepot's expansion plans for its home country of Nigeria as well as other countries on he continent.
In fund news, Swedish DFI Swedfund is investing approximately $14.5 million in Inspired Evolution's second fund, helping to get it closer to its $250 million target. The 10-year fund held its first close in December 2016, raising almost $90 million from other development finance institutions, specialized fund-of-funds and a family office.
The escalating dispute between Angola's sovereign wealth fund, FSDEA, and Quantum Global, the private equity firm, took another twist at the end of last week. FSDEA announced its intention to remove Quantum from managing any of its private equity activities out of concern as to how the asset manager has been investing FSDEA's funds. In response, Quantum has vigorously countered the concerns, saying that all of the sovereign wealth fund's money under its management is fully accounted for.
High-profile investor Sev Vettivetpillai, who left The Abraaj Group earlier this year, has joined LGT Group as head of the asset manager's impact investment arm. Having led impact investing for Abraaj, he has now been recruited by the LGT Group to significantly expand LGT Impact and its investment activities.
Phatisa has appointed leading private equity investor Robert Jenkins as a Senior Partner and Acting CIO. He joins just as the pan-African private equity firm zeros in on holding the first close for its second fund.As well as being a key member of Phatisa's investment committee, his initial priorities will include assisting and driving the firm's regional deal teams in the transition period between this latest fund and its predecessor.
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.
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