The 5 most popular stories on Africa Private Equity News this week
Here are summaries of the five most widely read stories this week on Africa Private Equity News.
1. African Infrastructure Investment Managers expands to Asia and Latin America
Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI), Africa’s largest alternative investment manager, acting through its subsidiary, African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), has announced its joint venture partnership with Augment Infrastructure Partners, founded by Viktor Kats and Darius Lilaoonwala, to launch Augment Infrastructure Managers LLC. The partnership has been anchored by the Old Mutual Group, and marks OMAI’s expansion into infrastructure equity investments in emerging markets outside of Africa, with an initial focus on Asia and Latin America.
Augment will invest in mid-market growth infrastructure platforms across emerging markets in the renewable energy, water, digital infrastructure and transport sectors. The partnership will focus on backing established companies in these sectors that are looking to accelerate their growth.
2. West Africa: Mobile money company raises $200m
Wave, a mobile money provider in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, announced a series A investment of $200 million. The round was led by Sequoia Heritage, Founders Fund, Stripe and Ribbit. Former Y-Combinator CEO Sam Altman and existing investor Partech Africa also participated in the round. Following this investment, Wave is valued at $1.7 billion. It is the largest series A funding for a fintech in Africa.
Founded in 2018, Wave is building mobile money that is easy-to-use and affordable. The Wave app is similar to PayPal, but does not require a bank account. Wave runs a network of ”agents” – small local businesses – who use their cash on hand to service Wave users.
3. Amethis in Southern African pharma deal
Private equity firm Amethis has acquired a minority stake in Avacare, a distributor and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and healthcare consumable products, mainly operating in Southern Africa.
Avacare was founded in 1996 by Dr Vikramkumar Naik, an anesthesiologist born in Zimbabwe. From a local disposable distribution company created in Harare, Avacare has successfully become a pan-African pharmaceutical distributor and manufacturer operating across a large number of African countries including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, eSwatini, Lesotho, Zambia and Kenya. Avacare sells over 9,000 products supported by about 1,300 employees and achieved a turnover of $200 million in FY 2021. Avacare also has access to 32 warehousing facilities, 47 sales offices and 15 manufacturing facilities across Africa.
4. Apis and DPI participate in $120m Egyptian fintech deal
MNT-Halan, Egypt’s leading fintech ecosystem, announced an investment of about $120 million by major global and regional growth investors: Apis Growth Fund II, Development Partners International (DPI), and Lorax Capital Partners. In addition, the company has also attracted venture capital backing from Middle East Venture Partners, Endeavor Catalyst, and DisruptTech. This round of investment demonstrates confidence in the fintech opportunity in Egypt and further institutionalises the capitalisation table of MNT-Halan. Previous investors of MNT-Halan have included GB Capital, DPI, Algebra Ventures, Wamda, Nowaisi Capital, Unidelta, Egypt Ventures, Battery Road Digital Holdings, and Shaka VC.
Capitalising on MNT-Halan’s first mover advantage, proprietary and highly scalable tech capabilities and strong brand in Egypt, this funding endorses its strategy to drive further innovation in its technology, product development, scale to tens of millions of customers, and expand cross-border. The investment also recognises the scale and long-term potential of MNT-Halan, which has been granted micro, consumer and nano finance licenses from the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority, as well as the first independent electronic wallet license from the Central Bank of Egypt.
5. Proparco invests in Amethis fund
Proparco, via FISEA +, the AFD Group facility advised by Proparco and part of the Choose Africa initiative, has signed a €10 million equity investment in Amethis MENA Fund II (AMF II), alongside other development finance institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Private investors as well as the Edmond de Rothschild Group, Amethis’ partner, also participated in this first closing.
Managed by Amethis, an investment fund manager dedicated to the African continent, AMF II reached its first close at €85 million. The fund targets investments ranging from €5 million to €15 million in family-owned businesses and high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan, operating in the consumer, healthcare, education, business services, manufacturing and technology sectors.
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