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.
Nairobi is ranked the most attractive city for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa but North African cities and Johannesburg dominate the continent in an interesting PwC report, highlighting 20 African cities, because cities are the engine of growth worldwide and particularly in Africa.
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.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange says it will have the fastest trading system in Africa when it upgrades its trading to NASDAQ OMX Group’s X-Stream platform, with a target date of second quarter of 2013. The new system will handle a wide range of instruments.
The International Finance Corporation plans to invest up to $700 million in new African telecommunications projects in this year and the next, says Reuters.
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.
The Bourse des Valeurs Mobilières de Tunis (BVMT – Tunis Stock Exchange), aims to support role in faster economic growth and has a 5-point development strategy. A share offer in May was 3.2 times oversubscribed.
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.
Emerging Capital Partners has won an award as “Best Private Equity House in Africa” named by EMEA Finance magazine. This recognizes ECP’s achievements in raising over $613 million for its third pan-African fund, ECP Africa III (AF III), making it the largest fund ever raised for growth equity investing across Africa.
Tunisie Telecom has cancelled plans for a joint initial public offering on the Paris and Tunis stock exchanges after consultations with trade unions following several changes of Government in recent weeks and the resignation of the former president.
Leading international private equity firms are investing $79 million to build and acquire mobile phone towers in sub-Saharan Africa. Investec Asset Management, the International Finance Corporation and the Netherlands Development Finance Company are taking equity in IHS Nigeria Plc (IHS).