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. Actis West Africa real estate fund reaches first close
Actis has recently concluded a first close of its real estate fund, Actis West Africa REIF LP (NREIF) at $45 million.
Anchor investors in the first close included Stanbic IBTC Pensions Managers, FCMB Pensions Limited and Pensions Alliance Limited.
The fund will invest in market leading, stabilised real estate assets across West Africa, with a special emphasis on Nigeria. NREIF will acquire and manage real estate assets across a range of sectors, including retail, office, industrial, education and healthcare.
2. InfraCo Africa backs fund advised by Helios
InfraCo Africa, the African development arm of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), announced a $43 million anchor investment into Climate, Energy Access and Resilience (CLEAR), a climate-focused fund advised by Helios Investment Partners. The design of the CLEAR Fund was refined and realised by PIDG and InfraCo Africa through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s ‘MOBILIST’ Sustainable Infrastructure Competition. MOBILIST supports investment solutions looking to list on global or local stock exchanges that help emerging and frontier markets spur progress towards UN Global Goals and deliver the climate transition.
During the COP26 summit held in November 2021, the UK government renewed their commitment to PIDG and announced their support for the CLEAR Fund, and its intention to list its assets on a major stock exchange in due course, through the MOBILIST programme. Drawing on PIDG and Helios’ blend of private sector development and investment expertise, and track record of delivering impact in Africa, CLEAR will fund climate-aligned assets and growth opportunities.
3. South Africa: Knife Capital leads DataProphet’s $10m Series A round
DataProphet, an AI-as-a-service (AIaaS) company targeting the manufacturing sector, announced the completion of its $10 million series A funding round.
Knife Capital led the round, joined by South Africa’s IDC and Norican – the world’s largest metal surface preparation and finishing equipment provider. The funding provides DataProphet with the capital to invest further in its industrial AI product set while facilitating targeted growth in selected geographies and manufacturing verticals.
Knife Capital had initially invested in DataProphet in early 2018 via its KNF Ventures Section 12J funding vehicle. This latest round is the first investment made by Knife Fund III, the newly launched fund supporting the international ambitions of African scale-ups. “Accelerating the international expansion of DataProphet, given the leading nature of its technology, is exactly the mandate of our new fund – and it couldn’t be more fitting for our first investment to be a follow-on investment from our existing cohort,” comments Keet van Zyl, co-founder and partner at Knife Capital.
4. Uganda: Pearl Capital Partners in animal feed deal
The Yield Uganda Investment Fund, managed by Pearl Capital Partners, announced a US$2.6 million (UGX 9.5 billion) aggregate investment in Kamp Group Limited. This blended equity and debt funding was raised through a co-investment arrangement between Yield Uganda and Gorm Pedersen 2 Holding ApS, a Danish investor. This marks the fund’s thirteenth investment in the Ugandan SME agribusiness sector.
Kamp Group Limited, incorporated in 2013, is an animal feed processing, marketing, and distribution company with a feed mill in Northern Uganda’s Anaka Town Council, Nwoya District, and a distribution centre in Kisaasi, Kampala District. The company trades as Kamp Feed and specialises in the production, marketing, and distribution of pelleted animal feeds that are sold on to smallholder farmers through agents across Uganda.
5. Berkshire exits South African data centre company
Digital Realty – the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions – announced the successful completion of its previously announced agreement to acquire a majority interest in Teraco – a carrier-neutral data centre and interconnection services provider in South Africa – from a consortium of investors, including Berkshire Partners and Permira, in a transaction valuing Teraco at approximately $3.5 billion.
The acquisition of Teraco adds South Africa to Digital Realty’s three existing markets on the continent, including Kenya, Mozambique, and Nigeria. The strategic importance of these four markets has been enhanced by the recent and ongoing implementation of new subsea cable networks encircling Africa.
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