News and developments on African capital markets: African securities, African stock exchanges, African equities, African bonds, African private equity/venture capital, and African social impact investment. Twitter @africancapital, LinkedIn African Securities Exchanges group.
The USA is creating a new International Development Finance Corporation with streamlined capacity for investment and doubling the investment cap to $60bn. IDFC will replace the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and draw together several other US investment initiatives.
Rift Valley Railways (RVR), a platform company of Egypt’s Citadel Capital, has repaired 500 kilometers of track between Tororo in Eastern Uganda and Gulu in the North, opening north and northwest Uganda South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to rail services after 20 years of disuse and inefficiency.
A leading African private equity house Development Partners International (DPI) has reached the first close of its second pan-African African Development Partners II (ADP II) fund at over $400 million.
De Beers’ Diamond Trading Corporation has moved from London to Botswana and some 32m carats of diamonds (worth US$6 billion – about 40% of world diamond sales) will be aggregated and sold in Botswana. OPIC financing of P1.8bn is being held up by relations with Stanchart.
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.