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. Ascent Rift Valley Fund II lands $10m from LP
Dutch development financier FMO has approved a $10 million investment in Ascent Rift Valley Fund II (ARVF II), managed by Ascent Capital Africa.
ARVF II aims to invest in and develop regional SMEs in East Africa, making use of its local presence and hands-on investment approach to do so. By investing in ARVF II, FMO can contribute to the economic growth of East Africa and help develop the private equity market in this region of the world.
The fund has a target size of $120 million.
2. Kenyan competition authority approves LeapFrog insurance deal
The Competition Authority of Kenya has approved the proposed acquisition of shares, with veto rights, comprising 24.1% of ICEA Lion Insurance Holdings Limited by Eastern Africa Holdings Limited (EAHL).
EAHL is incorporated in the United Kingdom and is fully-owned by private equity fund Leapfrog Strategic African Investments (LSAI). LSAI is an investment partnership established in 2016 between LeapFrog Investments and the US-based global financial services leader Prudential Financial that functions as a $350 million separate managed fund. The objective of the LSAI fund is to identify and make strategic investments in high-quality financial services companies in selected African geographies.
3. South Africa: Temo Capital 2 receives green light to acquire healthcare assets
South Africa’s Competition Commission has unconditionally approved the proposed merger whereby Temo Capital 2 intends to acquire Akacia, Spartan, CircumQ IP and CicumQ Trading.
Temo Capital 2 is controlled by the Bunang Trust. The Bunang Group holds diversified private equity investments, which are primarily held through Temo 2 and Temo 1.
Akacia is a holding company for subsidiaries that provide products and services to the medical and healthcare sector. Spartan provides a range of commercial vehicle rental and related services. CircumQ IP and CircumQ Trading own the intellectual property to a male circumcision device for application in the healthcare sector.
4. Impact fund raises further €58m
The second round of funding for the first Finnish impact fund to invest in emerging markets, the OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I, raised a further €58 million in capital. The total fund size now stands at €135 million.
OP Asset Management Ltd, part of OP Financial Group, one of the largest banking groups in Finland, acts as a portfolio manager for the fund and OP Fund Management Company Ltd acts as an alternative investment fund manager of the fund. Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and impact investor acts as an anchor investor and advisor to the fund.
5. Africa Finance Corporation secures $250m capital loan from DFC
The Africa Finance Corporation, an infrastructure solutions provider in Africa, today announced it has successfully secured a $250 million tier-2 capital loan from U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
Formed in December 2019, DFC is the United States Government’s development bank established with a lending capacity of up to $60 billion to provide financing for solutions to some of the most critical challenges facing the developing world. DFC expanded and modernised the tools of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
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