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. Helios exits food company
Helios Investment Partners, an Africa-focused private investment firm, acting on behalf of funds it advises, has completed the sale of its 49% stake in GBfoods Africa (GBFA) to its partner and co-shareholder, GBfoods SA. Successful execution of Helios’ value creation strategy resulted in strong financial, social and environmental performance. During Helios’ ownership, annual operating profit growth was consistently in the mid-teens, driven by both revenue growth and margin expansion.
Established in 2017, GBfoods Africa was a joint venture created by Helios and GBfoods through the combination of GBfoods’ existing bouillon cubes business in Africa and the acquisition of brands Gino, Pomo, Jago, and Bama. The combined platform generates 70% of gross profit from core brands and has a strong established presence in over 30 African markets.
2. New CDC investments: $40m for Convergence fund; $10.9m in Africa Mobile Networks
CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution (DFI) and impact investor, has announced commitments totalling $50.9 million to expand digital infrastructure, boost rural connectivity and accelerate digital technology access for rural and underserved communities across sub-Saharan Africa. The capital will support the continued growth of the ICT sector in the continent, helping to boost development of necessary infrastructure and providing rural and underserved communities with access to affordable mobile connectivity.
The first investment is a $40 million commitment to Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF), managed by Convergence Partners – a specialist Africa-focused ICT fund manager – supporting a first close together with other DFI and financial investors of $120 million and a target fund size of $250 million. CDC’s funding will enable CPDIF to invest in digital infrastructure and the overlays needed to improve connectivity and access to ICT across the continent. In addition to investments in data centres, fibre networks, towers, software and wireless networks, the funding will support CPDIF to invest in fourth industrial revolution technologies such as 5G, cloud, internet of things and artificial intelligence – helping to stimulate innovation that will help bridge Africa’s digital divide.
CDC’s second investment is a $10.9 million equity commitment to a consortium led by Metier (a leading mid-cap fund manager in sub-Saharan Africa), alongside fellow DFIs DEG, Proparco and other leading financial institutions investing just under $40 million in Africa Mobile Networks – the fifth-largest independent tower company operating in Africa.
3. Afreximbank fund makes first investment
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced a minority investment by the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA) into Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a pan-African telecommunications technology group. This is the first investment made by FEDA, a development impact-oriented subsidiary of Afreximbank, which provides equity and quasi-equity funding to companies developing trade and value-added export of goods and services in Africa.
This investment enables FEDA to become a stakeholder in Africa’s fast-growing technology infrastructure landscape, in which Liquid is a leading player. With a fibre optic network currently stretching over 100,000 km across sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s fastest growing data market regions, Liquid has direct access to international submarine cable infrastructure as well as significant investment in data centres across the continent. Liquid is the only operator in sub-Saharan Africa with a multi-country fibre network of such geographic breadth.
4. 500 Startups closes largest fund to date; announces rebrand
500 Startups, one of the world’s most active venture capital firms, announced the closing of a $140 million global flagship fund – the firm’s largest fund to date – bringing assets under management to $1.8 billion. Now rebranded as 500 Global, the firm has been expanding its investment strategy beyond the accelerator and seed stage.
Overall, the firm’s portfolio has yielded 33 companies valued over $1 billion and more than 120 companies valued over $100 million including Talkdesk, Canva, Bukalapak, Grab, Shippo, and more. 500 Global has backed more than 6,000 entrepreneurs across 77 countries.
5. Nigerian snack food company secures $3m investment
ReelFruit, a dried fruit snacks company, announced a series A investment of $3 million. Alitheia IDF led the round and invested $2 million while other investors included Samata Capital and Flying Doctor Healthcare Investment Company. The New Practice advised ReelFruit on the transaction.
Key to its expansion plans, ReelFruit will acquire a new factory in Ogun State to increase its monthly dried fruit production. The factory will hire over 200 people in its first year. With its greater supply of dried fruit, ReelFruit will continue to innovate new products for the local and international markets.
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