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. Kenya: Centum to sell Sidian Bank stake to Access Bank
Kenyan investment company Centum has entered into a binding agreement with Access Bank regarding a proposed purchase by Access Bank of Centum’s entire equity stake in Sidian Bank.
Centum holds 83.4% of the issued shares of Sidian, directly in its own name and indirectly through its wholly owned subsidiary, Bakki Holdco Limited. The transaction is for the total sum of KES 4.3 billion (c. $36.8 million) and is subject to customary adjustments agreed by the parties. It is expected that in due course, Sidian will be merged with Access Bank’s subsidiary in Kenya to create a stronger banking institution positioned to serve the Kenyan market.
The completion of the transaction is subject to receipt of customary regulatory approvals in Nigeria and Kenya.
2. AfricInvest in edtech deal
AfricInvest has announced the conclusion of a successful series A round for GOMYCODE, Tunisia’s first digital education start-up. This investment round, which closed at $8 million, was led by AfricInvest through the Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) along with its partners at Proparco.
”GOMYCODE aims to create a scalable and sustainable educational platform by making high-quality education accessible and affordable for the youth In Africa. With a quality round table and a senior management team in place, GOMYCODE will have the necessary funds and infrastructure to continue to strengthen its presence across Africa and the Middle East, targeting over 100,000 trained students per year in 20 countries by 2024,” said AfricInvest in a LinkedIn post.
3. Proparco invests $12m in frontier-market investor Maris
Proparco, through AFD Group’s FISEA+ initiative, has closed a $12 million equity round with Maris Limited, an impact investor with expertise in frontier markets in East and Southern Africa.
The climate-aligned investment will fund start-ups and SMEs in renewable energy, agriculture and business services with net negative GHG emissions for the activities concerned.
4. European LP proposes investment in Partech fund
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has proposed an investment, for an undisclosed amount, in the Partech Africa Venture Capital Fund II, a vehicle focusing on start-ups and high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) active in the digital and technology sectors in Africa.
The fund is the successor fund of Partech Africa Fund I, in which the EIB invested in 2017.
5. HAVAÍC invests in Nigerian direct-to-consumer retailer
Cape Town-headquartered venture capital firm HAVAÍC announced the completion of its first investment in ShopEx, a Nigerian omnichannel direct-to-consumer retailer.
HAVAÍC has finalised an investment of $400,000 from its $20 million HAVAÍC Universum Core African Fund. The investment forms part of a $625,000 convertible note round alongside existing angel investors.
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