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A selection of private equity deal and fundraising announcements that came across our desk in March 2020.

Deals

The sophomore fund of Zebu Investment Partners, the Africa Food Security Fund, has closed its investment in Tanzania’s Royal Oven Limited. Royal Oven is a quick-service restaurant retail bakery chain, offering a diverse range of products which combine traditional Tanzanian food with international bakery trends.

Johannesburg-based private equity firm Capitalworks has made an offer to acquire and delist Peregrine Holdings, a South African wealth and alternative investments company. Shareholders are yet to approve the transaction.

AfricInvest, a pan-African private equity platform, has announced that its AfricInvest Financial Inclusion Vehicle (FIVE) has acquired a minority shareholding in I&M Bank (Rwanda) Plc through AfricInvest Evergreen Investments, a special purpose vehicle formed by AfricInvest.

RMB Corvest revealed it is the lead investor in a management buyout of Roos Foods, a KFC franchisee in South Africa. In addition to management, the acquiring consortium is complemented by Iron Bridge Capital, a private investment holding company operating in South Africa.

One Thousand & One Voices (1K1V), a private family capital fund backed exclusively by industry-leading families, has announced the successful recapitalisation of SanLei, its specialist aquaculture portfolio company headquartered in the Kingdom of Lesotho. As part of the transaction, Mergence Investment Managers acquired a significant minority interest in SanLei on behalf of its Lesotho pension fund client.

The Ascent Rift Valley Fund, an East African-focused private equity fund, has acquired the plastics manufacturing business of Kenya’s Metro Plastics. The company is involved in the manufacture and trading of plastic pipes and fittings.

Nigerian listed insurance firm Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc received a binding offer from Verod Capital Management to acquire all the issued shares of the company. Verod is a private equity firm focusing on investing equity in growth companies across various consumer-driven sectors in Nigeria. The offer price represents a premium of 208% to the 60-day volume-weighted average share price as on 26 February 2020.

Emerging markets investor Actis has announced it is establishing a $250 million pan-African data centre platform. The buy and build platform will comprise of independently owned, carrier-neutral, data centres across key African markets. The first of these investments have now been completed, with Actis taking a controlling stake in Nigeria’s leading, independent, co-location business, Rack Centre.

Fundraising

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $10-million equity investment in the Razorite Healthcare Africa Fund 1 (RHAF1) to help improve healthcare infrastructure delivery across the continent. RHAF1, to be registered in Mauritius with a 10-year term, aims to address the growing demand for affordable and quality healthcare services in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

South Africa’s 27four Investment Managers announced the second close of the 27four Black Business Growth Fund II with total capital of R710 million ($40.4 million). The second close includes commitments from the Consolidated Retirement Fund for Local Government and the Rand Water Provident Fund, as well as further capital from the Jobs Fund.

The AfDB has committed €12 million to the Yeelen Financial Fund, managed by private equity firm Cauris Management. Yeelen Financial Fund LP is a 12-year investment fund which aims to support the growth and development of banking, insurance, microfinance, financial technology and other types of financial services institutions within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).

Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB Canada) recently launched Hummingbird Impact, a $20 million Africa-focused blended-finance impact fund to invest in scalable, tech-enabled social ventures at the pre-seed, seed and series A stages. It will be complemented by a $4 million technical assistance facility to accelerate the growth and impact performance of its portfolio.

South African logistics company Imperial has partnered with venture capital firm Newtown Partners to launch a corporate venture capital fund focused on investing in disruptive startups in the logistics industry, with an initial investment of $20 million. The fund will identify, invest in, and nurture disruptive, innovative technology startups that present high-growth potential in the global supply chain and logistics technology stack.

Quona Capital, a venture firm focused on financial inclusion in emerging markets, revealed the final close of the Accion Quona Inclusion Fund. The fund closed with $203 million in commitments from an array of investors, including global asset managers and insurance companies, investment and commercial banks, as well as university endowments, foundations, family offices, and development finance institutions, significantly exceeding its $150 million target.

The International Finance Corporation disclosed it is considering a $30 million equity investment in the AfricInvest IV fund. The fund is a generalist, closed-end private equity fund domiciled in Mauritius with a target size of $500 million that will invest in mid-market growth capital transactions in Africa.

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Additional reading

[February 2020] Kenya-based investor sees opportunity in Covid-19 crisis
[February 2016] Kenya: KFC boss on lessons learnt, and why the money is not just in Nairobi
[October 2017] Rwanda dials up investment opportunities by playing to its strengths