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. Mediterrania Capital Partners invests in FMCG manufacturer
Mediterrania Capital Partners, the private equity firm focused on growth investments for SMEs and mid-cap companies in North and sub-Saharan Africa, has announced its investment, through its fund MC III, in Dislog Industries, one of the largest FMCG manufacturers in Morocco.
Founded in 2017, Dislog Industries has quickly become a leading player in the FMCG sector in Morocco.
Mediterrania Capital Partners’ investment in Dislog Industries is the seventh MC III deal.
2. Convergence Partners announces first close of new fund
Convergence Partners, a private equity investor focused on the technology sector across sub-Saharan Africa, announced the successful first close of its third fund, the Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF) at $120 million. The fund is targeting a final size of $250 million. Now with more than $400 million of capital under management, Convergence Partners remains the largest private equity investor dedicated to digital infrastructure in Africa.
Investors in CPDIF are leading institutions that continue to support African growth such as the CDC Group (the UK’s development finance institution), the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Proparco (the private sector arm of the Agence Française de Développement – AFD Group).
3. Naspers invests in South African digital short-term insurance platform Ctrl
Naspers is boosting the South African insurtech sector with a R34 million (about $2.3 million) investment in digital insurance advice platform, Ctrl. The investment is part of Naspers’s R1.4 billion commitment to grow early-stage tech companies through its tech investment vehicle, Naspers Foundry.
Ctrl is a digital short-term insurance advice platform that was founded in 2017. Ctrl provides a unique tech solution to the short-term insurance industry and consumers through its single platform, which connects consumers, brokers and insurers in one place. The platform enables brokers to provide insurance advice digitally and allows underserved consumers to easily compare multiple quotes, obtain advice, accept cover and manage their policies.
4. Metier-led consortium invests $36m into AMN to expand coverage in rural Africa
A consortium led by Metier, an independent African private equity fund manager, has invested $36 million into Africa Mobile Networks Ltd (AMN). The consortium includes CDC Group (the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor), DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (Germany’s development finance institution), Proparco (the private sector arm of the French Development Agency), Mauritius Commercial Bank’s Equity division and other leading financial institutions and investment managers. As part of the transaction, the consortium is also acquiring $3.5 million of existing shares and in total will own a significant minority shareholding in AMN.
AMN builds and operates mobile network base stations in partnership with tier-1 licensed mobile network operators such as MTN, Orange and Vodafone to extend their rural coverage. AMN provides a full turnkey NaaS (Network as a Service) approach to enable mobile network operators in sub-Saharan Africa to expand their coverage deep into rural areas – with no capital expenditure or operating equipment risk borne by the mobile operators in these remote locations. AMN currently operates circa 2,000 mobile network base stations in rural towns and villages across 10 countries, serving around 7 million people who were previously unconnected and processing 1.2 billion phone calls per annum.
5. Danish DFI commits $15m to pan-African PE fund
The Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), a development financial institution owned by the Government of Denmark, has decided to invest $15 million in ADP III, which is a sector agnostic investment fund with a pan-African focus advised by Development Partners International (DPI). The fund has attracted investments from several development finance institutions (DFI) with a common mission of creating strong development impact in their investments.
ADP III is aiming to invest $40-120 million in eight to 14 companies.
Are you seeking private equity or venture capital investment to grow your company? Africa Private Equity News now offers you the opportunity to connect with investors backing African businesses. Contact us at editor@africaprivateequitynews.com for our rate card and more information.