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. AfricInvest exits to Vantage Capital
AfricInvest has announced its exit from Promamec, a Morocco-based producer and distributor of medical devices for the public and private sectors.
AfricInvest’s investment enabled Promamec to fuel its growth by launching new medical specialties; offering new products; acquiring additional market share in historically covered sectors; and exploring new markets, mainly in West Africa.
2. IFC invests in Metier fund
IFC has announced an equity investment of $25 million in Metier Capital Growth Fund III (MCGF III) as well as a co-investment envelope of $15 million to invest alongside the fund in select companies.
The fund, which will be managed by Metier Private Equity International, will invest in eight to 12 mid-market companies primarily in Southern and East Africa. The fund will invest in sectors including telecommunications, fast-moving consumer goods, healthcare, non-banking financial services, manufacturing as well as infrastructure and energy. MCGF III will invest at least 40% of the fund outside of South Africa.
3. Knife Capital leads investment in digital health platform Kasha
Kasha, an East African digital platform for last-mile access to health, announced its Series B financing of over $21 million led by Knife Capital, a pan African VC firm based out of South Africa, with participation from Finnfund, DFC, Altree Capital, Tim Koogle and Pam Scott, Beyond Capital Ventures, Bamboo Capital’s BLOC Smart Africa Fund, Five35 Ventures and other new and existing investors. With the Series B funding, Kasha is scaling operations into South and West Africa.
Kasha is a digital retail and last-mile distribution platform for pharmaceuticals and FMCG products serving consumers, resellers, pharmacies, hospitals and clinics. Kasha also serves enterprises as a channel partner by leveraging its sales and last mile distribution network, data analytics and healthtech services to enable pharmaceutical manufacturers and global health organisations to increase access to quality health products through marketing, consumer insights and end-to-end distribution visibility to the last mile.
4. Swedfund backs Amethis Fund III
Swedfund has invested €20 million in the Amethis Fund III, which is a private equity fund to further support the development of the private sector in Africa.
Swedfund said in a statement that it is a relatively small player with only two offices in Africa. Therefore, it is important that it can find good partners in the form of funds that have a large network around the entire African continent.
5. RMB Corvest backs South African manufacturing business
RMB Corvest, in partnership with Umoya Capital Partners and Calibre Capital, has obtained a minority stake in South Africa’s M4A. This business manufactures passive network infrastructure, essential for forming fibre networks and bulk civil infrastructure. The company’s product range includes items ranging from small boundary boxes to large manholes, meeting various network distribution needs. Furthermore, it offers various ducts suitable for the telecommunications networks industry. In addition, M4A provides pre-cast and pre-fabricated solutions for municipal and civil engineering needs.
M4A was founded in 1997 and has been part of the Civilworks Group since 2014. Civilworks, founded in 2006, is a supplier to the civil and municipal markets in sub-Saharan Africa.
* Subscribe to Africa Private Equity News’ monthly Dealmaker’s Log for a database of the reported investment deals, exits and fundraising closes. Click here for more information.