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. Oppenheimer-backed Tana Africa Capital signs healthcare investment
Tana Africa Capital, a pan-African private equity firm owned by the Oppenheimer Family and Temasek Holding, announced the latest investment through its second fund, Tana Africa Capital II, into Mabaret Al Asafra, a hospital operator in Alexandria, Egypt. The investment was made directly into Alexandria for Healthcare Investments (AHI), which owns the majority stake in the Mabaret hospitals and laboratory.
Since its founding in 1982 Mabaret has become well known in the market, with a reputation for high-quality medical care at affordable prices. Mabaret currently operates two hospitals and a laboratory business in Alexandria and will launch a new hospital in central Alexandria in the second half of 2020, increasing the total beds to over 400.
2. CDC Group announces co-investment in mPharma
CDC Group, the UK’s publicly owned impact investor, has closed a co-investment in mPharma, a tech-enabled healthcare company driving supply chain efficiencies for pharmaceutical products across Africa. CDC has made the investment in mPharma alongside Novastar Ventures, a CDC-backed venture capital fund manager, which led the company’s series C funding round.
mPharma partners with community pharmacies, using technology and data to aggregate demands and create efficient supply chains within the vast and fragmented pharmaceutical market in Africa. This approach allows the company to distribute quality pharmaceutical products at a significantly lower cost than competitors and provided affordable and accessible healthcare to end consumers across the continent. mPharma currently operates in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and serves approximately one million patients annually, through a network of over 400 pharmacies.
3. RMB Corvest to exit investment in South African company
Private equity firm RMB Corvest has announced it will exit, subject to competition commission approval, its investment in South African company Plush Professional Leather Care.
Plush specialises in suede, leather and home care products. The business has been operating since 1966 and has a growing export profile across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The current transaction will see Adcock Ingram Healthcare Proprietary Limited acquire 100% of the business. “We believe that Adcock Ingram will be a fantastic custodian of Plush, its brand, employees and reputation,” says Rob Grieve, an executive at RMB Corvest. “Under Adcock Ingram’s leadership we believe Plush will continue to show good growth and retain its quality product offering.”
RMB Corvest originally invested in Plush in 2001, and subsequently in 2010, a new management team was introduced to the business, who then invested alongside RMB Corvest to recapitalise the business.
4. DFC commits $30m to African PE fund
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has approved an investment of up to $30 million in the AfricInvest Fund IV.
The fund will invest in businesses in highly developmental sectors such as healthcare and financial services across Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, and other African countries.
5. Ghana: Agri-Business Capital Fund signs debt deal with soya processor
The Agri-Business Capital Fund has provided a loan of €800,000 to soya milling and aggregation company Dragon Farming Limited, coupled with technical assistance.
Dragon Farming processes raw soya beans into soya bean meal, full-fat soya and soya oil. The business has a processing line with a crushing capacity of about 48 metric tonnes per day and is on a mission to provide innovative and environmentally sustainable products that satisfy the nutritional needs of farmed animals in Ghana and beyond.
Reach Africa’s private equity community by publishing a Showcase Article on Africa Private Equity News. Contact us at editor@africaprivateequitynews.com for our rate card and more information.