AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Tariye Gbadegesin, Managing Director & Chief Investment Officer at ARM-Harith about the current state of African infrastructure, the drivers of successful investing in Africa and more. With over 20 years’ experience, Tariye has mobilized over $3bn of capital for infrastructure projects in Africa. Tariye sits on the Millennium Challenge Council’s Advisory Board and is on the Advisory Committee on Infrastructure to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment.
In October 2019, Egypt’s government launched its first Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) named “Tharaa” (Arabic for wealth) to maximize the value of public sector assets. Africa Global Funds’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Abdalla ElEbiary, Chief Investment Officer at The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), to learn more about the fund, progress being made, investment plans and more.
East Africa is among the fastest growing regions in the world. The entire region has seen consistent GDP growth over the last decade, including in 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The region enjoys political stability, and diversified economic activity including the emergence of oil and gas as new investment pillar. MLC identified East Africa as the most attractive in Sub Saharan Africa, and a high priority for development. Heri Bomani is Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer at German investment company MLC Properties. In this Interview, he provides insights on the East African real estate market and some of its undiscovered opportunities.
Over the last few years, there has been a dramatic increase in gender lens investing, a strong indication that the financial sector is working to balance a legacy of lopsided investments. Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and impact investor, has since April 2019 invested over €121m in companies that promote women’s empowerment in developing countries. “Investing in gender equality is important because globally, there are major differences in the status of men and women and their opportunities to participate. Finnfund assesses each of its investments before making a decision, taking into account whether the investment can be expected to promote gender equality,” says Ulla Huotari, Investment Manager at Finnfund.
Africa Global Funds’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Jean Claude Permal, Executive Director and Chief Operation Officer (up) and Husayn Sassa, Head of Fund Administration & Investor Services (down) at AXIS to discuss trends in the fund administration industry and more.
In October, Vantage Capital, Africa’s largest mezzanine fund manager, made a $28m equity investment to acquire a significant minority shareholding in the Cliniques Internationales du Maroc Group (CIM Santé Group). For Vantage, this was the largest growth-capital investment to date. AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Luc Albinski (pictured), Managing Partner, and Driss Benabdeslam, Associate Partner at Vantage Capital, to discuss details.
African Lions Fund closed its initial share offering on September 30 with 52 investors and approximately $3.7m under management. Africa Global Funds’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Tim Staermose, CEO of the Investment Manager, ST Funds Management, to learn more about the new offering and investment opportunities in Africa.
AVCA has recently published a report entitled Raising the Heat: Exploring Climate-Consciousness in African PE, which includes a survey of the Association's member firms on how they are responding to climate change and its risks. AGF speaks with Enitan Obasanjo-Adeleye, Head of Research and Training, AVCA, about the findings, the implications of climate change on Africa's PE ecosystem and more
Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI) is one of Africa’s largest alternative investment managers with over $4.1bn under management in infrastructure, private equity, mezzanine debt and impact funds. OMAI is a member of Old Mutual Investment Group, the South African investment management arm of Old Mutual. The company chooses to make a positive impact across Africa by going ‘Beyond the Obvious’ to uncover opportunities others may overlook, according to Paul Boynton, Joint CEO. Paul has been Head of Alternative Investments since 2004. He chairs the Alternative Assets Investment Committee and has served on the boards of African Infrastructure Investment Managers, Assore, African Clean Energy Development, CIT, J&J, Life Healthcare, Metcash, Mezzanine Partners, Old Mutual Investment Group, Pepkor, Tourvest and Phembani.
AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Rajaa Berrkia, Sustainability Director, Mediterrania Capital Partners about trends around sustainable investing, the firm’s approach to sustainable investing as well as recent investments and achievements
The below is the edited version of the Webinar presentation by Murega Mungai, Nairobi-based Trading Desk Manager for AZA, Africa’s biggest non-bank currency broker. For the recording, please click here: https://www.azafinance.com/how-african-businesses-can-survive-covid-19/
AGF speaks with Abhimanyu Yadav, Head of Fixed Income & Currency, MCB Investment Management, about the attractiveness of the growing African fixed income asset class and the company's MCB Africa Bond Fund.
AFG is talking to Eugene Stals, Chief Investment Officer, Phatisa. Eugene is a seasoned private equity and investment professional with deep operational experience. He was a senior partner at Ethos Private Equity in Johannesburg, South Africa. During this time, Eugene was instrumental in the formation of Ethos. In all, he spent 18 years in executive, board and investment committee capacities at Ethos. He has a successful track record over the whole private equity value chain. More recently, he has fulfilled roles as an executive in, and consulted to, companies on strategic and operational issues.
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