Last week in brief... Once again, deal activity in Africa last week featured some of the continent's bigger name investors. Development Partners International backed the acquisition of Comptoir Agricole de Souss (CAS) by one of the private equity firm's portfolio companies, Compagnie Marocaine de Goutte à Goutte et de Pompage or CMGP for short. While the terms of the deal have not been made available, the annual turnover of the combined companies totals approximately $176 million, an indication that it's a deal of some significance in African terms.
AfricInvest also participated in the deal, investing in the businesses for the first time. While CMGP is an irrigation company, CAS operates in three agribusiness sectors - irrigation, crop protection, and fertilizers and seeds. The merger creates a one-stop-shop supplier for Morocco and West Africa's farmers.
AfricInvest was also involved in another deal last week. This time, the Tunis-headquartered private equity firm acquired a minority stake in Fidelity Bank Ghana from Kagiso Tiso Holdings. The Bank has grown into Ghana's largest privately-held institutions and is currently investing significant resources in digital transformation efforts. Ultimately its goal is to rank in the top three of all Ghanaian banks.
A.P. Moller Capital's $1 billion Africa Infrastructure Fund has acquired a significant minority stake in Mass Céréales al Maghreb (or MCM), a grain terminal operator based in Casablanca, from Holding Marocaine Commerciale et Financiere (or HOLMARCOM) which retains the balance of the firm. The plan is for both firms to jointly pursue investments in other assets via MCM and build a pan-African infrastructure platform.
There were two aquaculture deals announced last week. In the first, DOB Equity is making an investment in East Africa's largest fish farm. The Dutch Family-backed investor's investment in Victory Farms is structured as a convertible note, which, once converted, will give DOB a minority stake in the firm. DOB gets board representation and nomination rights as well as part of the deal.
In the second, Goodwell Investments has agreed to back Chicoa Fish Farms in Mozambique. The 5-year old firm will use the $1.5 million to develop the capacity to process and distribute frozen tilapia products. This involves extending its current production facilities, installing a processing plant, and building a network of local small-scale fish farmers to add to its supply.
In exit news, Atlas Mara has come to an agreement to dispose of its stakes in banking assets in Rwanda and Tanzania to KCB Group, Kenya's largest lender. The move reflects Atlas Mara's shift in strategy following a review announced last year aimed at shoring up the group's position and disposing of any assets which lack a clear, near-term path to acceptable profitability.
The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, managed by Ninety One, is investing debt in a business that counts Helios Investment Partners among its backers. The Ninety One-managed fund is loaning Access LNG $31 million over 10 years to complete the construction of a new Liquid Natural Gas storage and regasification facility at the port of Tema, in Ghana. Overall, the new facility will provide Ghana with greater fuel security and optimal supply.
New venture firm Pacer Ventures announced a new fund targeting early-stage startup opportunities in several sectors across sub-Saharan Africa. The new fund has $3 million to invest in startups operating primarily in the region's healthcare, financial inclusion, agricultural, and education markets, typically in deals ranging from $25,000 up to $1 million in size. According to the firm, the fund's average investment size will be $100,000. The fund has already made a couple of initial seed investments.
And finally, three new appointments were announced last week. Gulf Capital has a new Managing Director of Fundraising and Investor Relations. Kaiser Jasrai has joined the alternative investment firm as it gears up to launch new funds and co-investment vehicles for the private equity and private debt asset classes.
Arise has hired an ESG specialist from engineering and sustainability consultants WSP. Elan Theeboom joined the financial services investment platform at the beginning of November after almost 17 years at WSP where he fulfilled a number of environmental consulting roles across several sub-Saharan countries.
And in Mauritius, Sanne has promoted Rubina Toorawa to lead the business's operations in the island nation. She takes over from Peter Nagle who is moving on to fill the newly created role of Managing Director and Global Head of Client Growth at the fund and corporate services firm.
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 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
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