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A selection of African private equity deal, fundraising and exit announcements that came across our desk in June 2020.

Deals

Tana Africa Capital, a pan-African private equity firm, has announced the latest investment through its second fund, Tana Africa Capital II, into Mabaret Al Asafra, a hospital operator in Alexandria, Egypt. The investment was made directly into Alexandria for Healthcare Investments, which owns the majority stake in the Mabaret hospitals and laboratory.

Medu Capital has acquired 25.1% of Weir Minerals South Africa, an engineering solutions company serving the mining sector. The transaction was finalised in Johannesburg in May 2020.

Inside Capital Partners has announced the fifth investment of its first fund, Inside Equity Fund, into Alpha Polyplast Ltd, a plastic waste recycling company in Zambia. Inside Equity Fund has committed to invest $2.75 million in Alpha.

Chicago-based impact investor VestedWorld has invested in Rwanda-based food distribution company GET IT, according to a report by ImpactAlpha. GET IT is one of the largest distributors of fresh produce and dry goods in Rwanda, supplying most of the country’s leading hotels and restaurants.

Private equity firm Senatla Capital has acquired a 34% stake in South African advertising, brand and communications group, Joe Public United.

Renewable energy company Building Energy’s management, in partnership with Inspired Evolution’s Evolution II Fund, has successfully closed a buy-out of Building Energy’s Africa and Middle East business to launch the newly branded Red Rocket, an integrated renewable energy independent power producer. Evolution II holds a majority shareholding.

Fundraising

Investment manager Ninety One has launched an impact investment initiative – the Ninety One SA Recovery Fund, in association with Ethos Private Equity. Ninety One aims for a first close of the fund in July 2020. Ninety One will be targeting a fund size of R10 billion (about $597 million), with funding raised via two closes from South African institutional investors.

French development finance institution Proparco has made a $30 million investment in the first close of AfricInvest Fund IV. The fund is managed by AfricInvest and aims to support the development of strong local and regional consumer-driven businesses across Africa.

Venture capital firm Ingressive Capital has doubled its investment vehicle to back high-growth, tech-enabled startups across Africa. It now operates a $10 million fund. Some of the fund’s new investors include the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Plexo Capital and Platform Capital.

The OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I, backed by Finnfund as one of the anchor investors, has reached a first close of €76 million. The fund’s target size is €100 million and focuses on three sectors in developing countries: renewable energy, financial institutions, and sustainable agriculture.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has approved an investment of up to $25 million in SPE AIF I LP, a private equity fund managed by SPE Capital. The fund will invest in businesses in key industries across North and sub-Saharan Africa.

Fund manager Sanlam Investments has committed R2.25 billion (about $131.7 million) of its own capital to seed three South Africa-focused funds. The three impact funds, named the Investors’ Legacy range, share the common goal of backing companies negatively affected by Covid-19, but which have a strong likelihood of producing sustainable cashflows after the pandemic should they receive the required financial support.

Exits

Private equity firm RMB Corvest has announced it will exit, subject to competition commission approval, its investment in South African suede, leather and home care products company Plush Professional Leather Care. The current transaction will see Adcock Ingram Healthcare Proprietary Limited acquire 100% of the business. RMB Corvest originally invested in Plush in 2001, and subsequently in 2010.

South African agribusiness investment company Zeder has sold its 32.1% stake in Quantum Foods, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed integrated feed and poultry business, to Country Bird Holdings, one of the largest poultry and animal feeds producers in Africa.

Investment company Brait has sold its entire 63.1% interest in British supermarket chain Iceland Foods to a newly established company, wholly owned by Sir Malcolm Walker CBE and Tarsem Dhaliwal. The sale consideration to be paid to Brait is £115 million in cash, payable in three instalments. Ethos Private Equity, one of South Africa’s largest alternative asset managers, last year announced a strategic equity partnership with Brait.

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Further reading

[June 2020] Due Diligence: Doing deals in Ethiopia – investor shares lessons learnt
[May 2020] Interview: Why AgVentures is betting on agrifood tech in Africa
[May 2020] Investment firm Accion explains why it backed Nairobi-based Apollo Agriculture
[April 2020] Investor shares an honest account of what it’s really like fundraising a VC fund in Africa
[April 2020] After a decade of building and investing in African companies, Emilian Popa explains why he is bullish on these five industries