Amethis, an investment fund manager dedicated to long-term responsible investing across the African continent, has announced the first closing of Amethis MENA Fund II at $101m (€85m).

AMF II’s final closing is scheduled for July 2022, with several investors currently in due diligence.

Luc Rigouzzo and Laurent Demey, Co-Founders, said: “The launch of Amethis MENA Fund II is an important strategic milestone for Amethis that builds on our strong presence in Morocco and existing strategy of backing successful entrepreneurs across the African continent. Amethis strongly believes in SME investing, and AMF II is the third SME vehicle managed by Amethis, alongside its larger mid-cap pan-African funds.“

The Fund, which will target majority and minority investments ranging from €5m to €15m in fast-growing small-to-medium sized enterprises in Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan, is Amethis’ second SME MENA fund and fifth overall fund.

It succeeds AMF I, formerly known as CNAV II, a Maghreb SME fund that Amethis took over in 2018 and successfully turned around.

AMFII has benefited from the support of leading development finance institutions: the European Investment Bank (EIB), Proparco via FISEA+ (the AFD Group fund advised by Proparco and part of the Choose Africa initiative), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

It has also gathered a large range of qualified private investors, together with its partner the Edmond de Rothschild Group, representing altogether one-third of the first closing.

To date, AMF II has invested in one company, Magriser, a distributor of micro-irrigation systems in Morocco, with several other transactions currently at advanced stages and expected to close over the coming months.

The Fund is led by Wilfried Poyet, Adnane Zerhouni and Toufic Khoueiry, who have hands-on experience across the region’s major markets.

Poyet said: “AMF II brings a real solution and a deeply entrepreneurial DNA to the development of SMEs, as well as a response to the succession issues that managers encounter.”

Zerhouni said: ”AMF II will support our region’s SME entrepreneurs. The potential for development is certain, and we aim to help our partners benefit from identified growth levers.”

Khoueiry added: “The MENA region enjoys a dense fabric of high-quality SMEs operating across exciting sectors. Through AMF II, we will seek to partner with growth-minded founders, providing effective support locally and beyond.”