News and developments on African capital markets, includes: African securities, African stock exchanges/stock markets, African equities, African bonds, African private equity/venture capital, and African social impact investment
The African Venture Capital Association and Cambridge Associates are to work together to provide extensive, independent aggregate African private equity and venture capital benchmark data and statistics to AVCA members and other industry participants.
U.S. development finance institution, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), is to invest up to $285 million in financing to private equity funds. These in turn should raise more than $875m, representing the largest commitment by the U.S. Government to impact investing in emerging markets.
Government leaders, regulators and decision-makers across Africa recognize the success of private equity in growing companies, creating jobs and developing infrastructure. They are actively considering ways of encouraging flows of capital, both international and domestic, into private equity.
Fund-raising for sub-Saharan African private equity funds was $1.056 billion in January to June 2011, down 5% from $1.11 bn in the first half of 2010.Total fund-raising for emerging markets funds for the first half of 2011 was $22.6 bn, according to EMPEA, more than double the activity of the first half of 2010.
The International Finance Corporation and 6 leading international finance institutions provided $164 million in financing to Rift Valley Railways International to rehabilitate the Kenya-Uganda railway today (2 August).
Kenyan private equity firm TransCentury is to list through introduction at the Nairobi Stock Exchange on 14 July at a price of KES50 (USD0.58) a share. The firm began as an investment club and is valued at KES13.35 billion ($148.7 million).
Pan-African private equity firm Helios Investment Partners announced that it had raised $900 million for its second Africa-focused private equity fund, and the fund was over-subscribed. It is the largest Africa fund raised.
Leading African private equity firm Citadel Capital said that Egypt’s public prosecutor has lifted a travel ban imposed in April on its chairman Ahmed Heikal, according to Reuters. The company also announced Citadel Capital Partners Ltd. sold 13.4 million shares in Citadel Capital worth US$12.4 mn.
Interesting article in today’s FT Tilt on whether China’s model of cheap loans backing Chinese construction squeezes out private equity. The author suggests there could be a secondary round of infrastructure management projects.