African fundraising for the first half of 2019 reached $1.7bn in final closes and $0.9bn in interim closes, according to the African Private Equity Data Tracker, released by the the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA).
responsAbility Investments AG, an impact asset manager, has closed a $175m securitization of loans to microfinance and SME-finance institutions in emerging markets.
Actis has assumed the management rights on Abraaj Private Equity Fund IV (APEF IV), a global buyout fund, and Abraaj Africa Fund III (AAF III), a fund for investment in Sub-Saharan Africa.
BlueOrchard Finance has become among the first signatories to the Operating Principles for Impact Management, a market standard for impact investing initiated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.
Themis, an Africa-focussed power company backed by Denham Capital, has partnered with Kingline Development Nigeria (Kingline) to develop a 550MW natural gas-fired power plant in Ondo State, Nigeria.
While private equity has historically been more prevalent in Africa than private credit, the latter encompasses a range of strategies that can provide attractive alternative financing options for African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Despite the flux in many African markets over the past few years, the number of PE-backed IPOs in both African and global stock exchanges have remained relatively constant.
In South Africa, long term private equity returns remained steady for the first quarter of 2018, according to the latest RisCura-SAVCA South African Private Equity Performance Report.
Mergence Investment Managers, an independent specialist boutique asset management company based in South Africa, has said it sees 26% annual compound growth in unlisted investments and will leverage off commodities trading subsidiary.
Partners Group and Convergence Partners have established Helical Capital Partners, a private markets firm that will provide the South African investor community with access to a diversified, global portfolio of private investments. Helical Capital Partners’ South African operations will be based in Johannesburg and will be led by principals Craig Beney (previously COO of Convergence Partners) and Carlos Ferreira (previously CEO of Fairstone Capital).
The Board of Abraaj Holdings has filed an application in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands for a court-supervised restructuring as it battles allegations of misused funds.
The SA private equity has outperformed the FTSE/JSE All Share Total Return Index (ALSI TRI) and the FTSE/JSE Shareholder Weighted Total Return Index (SWIX TRI) over the 3-year and 5-year reporting periods analysed.
Exits to private equity and other financial buyers continued to increase in 2017, to 37%, and now represent the most common exit route, as evidenced by the sixth annual PE exit study, presented by EY and the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA).
Quantum Global has been subjected to a barrage of baseless and damaging allegations in the press in Mauritius while it prepares to contest actions taken by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in the Mauritius Court.
