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. DPI and CDC partner to create $750m pan-African pharma platform
Development Partners International (DPI), through its ADP III fund, CDC Group, the UK’s publicly owned impact investor, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have joined forces to create a major new player in the pan-African pharmaceuticals industry.
The three founding investors have committed an initial $250 million of capital that have been used to fund the acquisition and combination of Adwia Pharmaceuticals, an Egyptian generic drugs manufacturer, and Celon Laboratories Pvt, an Indian oncology and critical care specialist. The platform will leverage its manufacturing and R&D centre of excellence in India to strengthen its local manufacturing operations in Africa, while capturing synergies from centralised supply chain management and business development.
2. Old Mutual Alternative Investments backs education group
Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI), one of Africa’s largest private alternative investment managers, through its Education Investment Impact Fund of South Africa (EduFund), has invested in Sifiso Learning Group (SLG), a private education company.
Founded in 2017 by Sizwe Nxasana and Dr Judy Dlamini, SLG provides a project-based education model which integrates new and innovative teaching and learning techniques into its curriculum. SLG’s network of independent schools aim to provide Africa-focused and technology-enabled education, preparing Africa’s youth for the digital future.
EduFund’s investment, which consists of a debt facility to a special purpose vehicle forming part of SLG, was utilised in the development of the second phase of the Future Nation Fleurhof School, situated in the Fleurhof suburb of Roodepoort. The school consists of a pre-school, primary school and high school, and currently has 790 learners, with capacity to accommodate up to 1,220 learners.
3. African Infrastructure Investment Managers acquires equity stake in MetroFibre
African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), one of Africa’s largest infrastructure-focused private equity fund managers, has acquired a minority equity stake in MetroFibre Networx, a South African open-access fibre network operator, through the newly incorporated Digital Infrastructure Investment Holdings platform.
AIIM’s R980 million (about $63.8 million) investment forms part of a R1.5 billion (about $97.6 million) equity funding round to support MetroFibre’s capital expansion plan over the coming three years and will further enhance the company’s empowerment positioning. Existing shareholder STOA, a foreign investment vehicle based in France, is providing incremental funding as part of the transaction together with new investment by the founders of the South African Housing & Infrastructure Fund (SAHIF), Rali Mampeule and Kameel Keshav. The transaction sees AIIM, STOA and SAHIF partner with remaining shareholders of MetroFibre, including Sanlam Private Equity and African Rainbow Capital.
4. CrossBoundary Energy fully exits first fund at a 15% net IRR
CrossBoundary Energy announced the exit of its first fund at a 15% net IRR to investors. ARCH Emerging Markets Partners’ Africa Renewable Power Fund (ARCH ARPF) is providing $40 million in new equity funding to exit initial investors and support CrossBoundary Energy to continue to develop, construct and operate distributed commercial & industrial (C&I) solar projects that will provide businesses across Africa with access to cheaper, cleaner power.
CrossBoundary Energy I (CBE1) was closed in November 2015 as Africa’s first dedicated fund for C&I solar. It was also a prototype for a new blended finance approach to renewables in Africa. USAID’s Power Africa initiative contributed $1.3 million in the form of a repayable grant to catalyse private investors into the fund. USAID’s subordinated equity contribution attracted additional equity investors, effectively resulting in leverage of matching private capital of more than 6.0x. At the close of this transaction, this leverage increased to more than 30x and USAID’s blended finance contribution of $1.3 million has now been repaid to the US Treasury with a return of 5%. CBE1 also benefited from grant support from OPIC (now the US International Development Finance Corporation) and the Shell Foundation, in partnership with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, which allowed the fund to scale its operations.
5. Enygma Ventures invests in food business
Enygma Ventures has announced that Black Mamba Foods, an ethical producer of specialty foods based in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), has become the fund’s latest investment.
Black Mamba manufactures a range of chilli sauces, pestos, pickles, chutneys and jams, all of which are made from natural, fresh ingredients without artificial flavours or preservatives.
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