Abraaj raises $375mln for North Africa, AFC gets $50mln Islamic loan facility and others make african private capital news last week

August 31st, 2015

The weekly roundup of Africa's Private Capital news

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Here's this week's wrap of the most interesting Africa-related private equity, infrastructure and venture capital deal stories, market opinion articles and information pieces for our review. Thank you for being a reader and we hope you continue to find the newsletter useful.

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The week in brief...

The Abraaj Group grabbed most of Africa-related private equity headlines last week with the announcement that it had closed its second North Africa fund at $375 million. Once you add in the $990 million it raised in April for its third Sub-Saharan Fund, Abraaj takes the lead for the most amount of money raised for Africa deals this year. That was the cue for Private Equity International's research team to take a look at fundraising activity for Africa-focused closed-end funds this year.

They found that $3.78 billion has been raised by seven funds so far this year, handily beating totals from prior years including 2014's total of $2.57 billion. And the pace shows no sign of letting up. Private Equity International reports that there are 56 Africa-focused funds either in market or coming to market at the moment, targeting a combined total of $13.3 billion between them.

In other financing related news, the Islamic Development Bank has agreed to extend Africa Finance Corporation a $50 million line of financing to be used for agriculture and infrastructure projects in the IDB's member countries. It's the first Islamic Finance funding that Africa Finance Corporation has received, and all projects will be structured to comply with its requirements.

Africa50, the infrastructure fund sponsored by the African Development Bank, received another boost this week with the news that Egypt's government is planning to double its to $200 million, senior banking sources tell Amwal Al Ghad. The fund is already evaluating potential opportunities and looks set to make its first investments before the year is out.

China's financial markets and economic turmoil looks set to dampen the fortunes of several countries on the continent. The Financial Times examines the outlook for growth on the continent and the challenges that policy makers face as they try to tack against the headwinds caused by China's slowing economy.

And finally, Atlas Mara has reported it made a profit of $4.7 million in the first half of 2015, a first for the financial services focused platform company that was founded in 2013. It already has operations in 7 countries and tells The Independent that it could double that number as it continues evaluating the opportunities.

You can review these and other stories by scrolling down and reviewing the headlines, abstracts and links.

Fund & Financing News...

Private Equity

Abraaj rais es $37 5mln for second North Africa Fund // africacapitaldigest.com

The Abraaj Group, a leading emerging markets investment firm announced last Monday that it has held the final close for its second North Africa-dedicated fund, raising a total of $375 million. Commitments to Abraaj North Africa Fund II (ANAF II) came from both existing and new investors made up of global institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and development finance institutions. European and North American investors accounted for 63% of the capital committed .