Private Equity fund manager, Auvest Group has received a commitment of $30 million from The Abraaj Group for its MENASA Opportunities Fund I, which will invest in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. The fund is looking to raise a total of between $250 million to $300 million. 

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Private Equity fund manager, Auvest Group has received a commitment of $30 million from The Abraaj Group for its MENASA Opportunities Fund I, which will invest in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. The fund is looking to raise a total of between $250 million to $300 million. 

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Business Partners International, East Africa (BPI EA) has been launched with $30 million in backing from a number of international institutions including the IFC, FMO and Stichting DOEN. With typical deal sizes to range from $50,000 to $1 million, the fund will look to provide East Africa's SMEs with access to funding, technical assistance and mentorship. 

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Texas-based Endeavor Energy has entered into a joint Development Agreement with Ivorian independent power producer Starenergie2073 to develop the Songon Gas-to-power project near Abidjan. Denham Capital-backed Endeavor will own a majority of the project equity, but specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The partners behind the Circum Minerals Potash Project in the Danakil basin in Eastern Ethiopia are looking to raise $30 million from new investors to finance post-Definitive Feasibility value adding studies and buy out early high net worth investors. The first phase of the project which is looking to start production in in the second half of 2018 will aim to produce 2.75 million tonnes of potash which will be sold to India and China.

Edcon Holdings, the Bain Capital-backed South African retailer, has appointed Goldman Sachs and Houlhan Lokey as advisors for its discussions with lenders as it explores its options to restructure and refinance its debt. The retailer needs to start paying 4.5 billion rand in a mix of dollar-, euro- and rand-denominated debt next year, with another 20 billion Rand worth of debt coming due in 2019.

Troubled unsecured lender Blue Financial Services may be forced to start disposing assets if it cannot finalize a recapitalization plan in the near future. Blue Financial is 54% owned by Mabuye, a private equity group, who is looking to other shareholders to commit to the proposed recapitalization program.

The emerging markets slowdown has had an impact on foreign direct investment flows into the developing world, but with significant disparities by region. Regionally, the amount of foreign direct investment flowing into Africa jumped by 65% between 2013 and 2014, according to a report from fDi Intelligence, with Egypt, Angola and Morocco among the top 10 countries in the region by capital investment.

The latest Africa Outlook report published by the OECD, the AfDB and the United Nations Development Program predicts that the continent's economy will grow at 4.5% in 2015 and 5% in 2016.  The East African region is expected to post the strongest growth at 5.6%, while West Africa will recover impressively from the Ebola epidemic. Southern Africa will act as a drag on the continent's overall growth, however, with South Africa growing by only 2%, plagued by labor disputes and energy shortages.

Following the publication of Standard & Poor's Africa Outlook report, a top line review of some of the key points behind the movements in African countries sovereign credit ratings. Several oil exporters, not surprisingly, suffer credit downgrades, whilst Kenya and Ghana receive more stable outlooks, having negotiated loans and credit lines already that will help cushion the impact of economic shocks.