TPG joined the ranks of leading global private equity firms targeting investments in Africa with the announcement last week that it is planning to invest up to $1 billion in a tie-up with Satya Capital, Mo Ibrahim's Africa-focused investment firm. Satya-TPG, the special purpose vehicle established by the partnership will target opportunities in healthcare, TMT, consumer and financial services for deals ranging up to $300 million in size.

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Kenya's Centum Investments raised $61 million in a bond sale last week which was 38% oversubscribed. The proceeds of the sale will be used to finance Centum's investments in Financial Services, Energy and Real Estate. According to the investment company's CEO, James Mworia, the 5-year bond was taken up mostly by local investors. 

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The European Investment Bank has agreed to loan Malawi's Lilongwe Water Board ?24 million as part of the Boards ?49.2 million investment program to alleviate the critical water shortages being experienced in the country's largest city. The new investment program will help to cater for expected increased demand for water in the city where water has been rationed for the last 3 years and the population is growing by 4% each year. 

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Private Equity-backed Helios Towers' deal to acquire Bharti Airtel tower assets in Tanzania and Chad has fallen through. The company had reached an agreement in July last year to acquire tower assets in Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Tanzania. Reports state that both companies agreed to terminate the sales of approximately 800 towers in Chad and Tanzania, while the deal for Congo and DRC remains in place.  

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South African private equity firm Brait, which still retains a stake in Steinhoff International as part of its Pepkor sale to the integrated retailer at the end of 2014, is planning to exit its positon eventually and use the proceeds to acquire other assets. John Gnodde, Brait's CEO tells Business Day that the firm is "not finished" with buyouts, and while Steinhoff is a "good business doing good things" it does not fit with Brait's strategy. So far in 2015, Brait has made two significant retail investments spending a combined total of approximately $2.2 billion dollars in deals for fitness chain Virgin Active and UK retailer New Look. 

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South Africa's Competition Commission has approved, without conditions, Abraaj-backed Libstar Holding's acquisition of Natural Herbs and Spices. In October last year, the Dubai-based private equity firm acquired a majority stake in Libstar, a South African personal care and food company, from Metier, Old Mutual Private Equity, Development Partners International and Lereko in an undisclosed deal. 

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While it has the $28 million in cash needed to pay the coupon 2019 senior debt on June 30th, the payment will stretch the capital-constrained South African retailer, Edcon. Reuters reports that Bain Capital, which bought the South Africa retailer for $3.5 billion in 2007 is looking for a solution that does not require it to inject additional capital into the troubled business. 

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The new double tax treaty between Mauritius and South Africa that is due to come into effect in January 2016 could, according to some experts, act as a brake on cross-border investment. A revised "tie-breaker" clause which resolves tax residency status allows the South African and Mauritian Tax authorities to come to an agreement on which country has the first right to tax in cases where both countries claim taxing rights over the taxpayer, muddying the waters for multinational companies with Mauritian holdings in their group structures. Treaties with other countries use the "place of effective management" test in cases of dispute. 

Following the agreement between the leaders of 26 African countries to start negotiations on establishing the Tripartite Free Trade Area and creating a common market with over 600 million people from the Cape to Cairo, the Brookings Institution's Africa Growth Initiative publishes an assessment of the importance of the proposed trading bloc to the continent's future from Soamiely Andriamananjara, an economics lecturer at George Washington University.

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Africa's energy projects look set to benefit from significant private equity and debt investment from a broad range of GCC investors ranging from sovereign wealth funds to high-risk/return developers. A shared culture and a common language would make some countries in North Africa an obvious choice for many of the region's energy investors and developers, according to panelists speaking at the Africa Energy Forum held in Dubai last week. 

The strongest theme emerging from a report published last week on the future of payments is the shift in payment innovation from the West to the newer economies in Africa and Asia. The biennial Payment Innovations Report 2015 calls on the West to learn from the smaller economies in Africa and Asia which lead in payment innovations while Europe is "at the bottom of the heap."

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Having acquired gold and platinum mining company Village Main Reef earlier this year, private equity firm Heaven-Sent Capital (HSE) is looking to increase its investment levels in South Africa, with the troubled mining sector a source of fresh opportunities for the Chinese investor.  Indeed, the company has broader ambitions beyond mining. Moneyweb quotes Jeff Dong principal in HSE's outbound M&A department as saying that besides the mining sector, other sectors offering good investment potential would be of interest, including energy and jewelry. 

A joint report which reviews the private equity fundraising, transaction and exit environment from 2007 to 2014 has just been published by consulting firm KPMG and EAVCA, the region's Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. The study is the first the two organizations have collaborated on and gives a clearer picture of the value and volume of private equity activity in East Africa.  

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With only $1.5 billion raised by 2 countries in 2015, and a pipeline of new deals threatened by rising borrowing costs, the Financial Times reports that demand for Africa's debt has cooled as money managers around the world rebalance their portfolios in preparation for anticipated tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve. However, some industry practitioners believe that sub-Saharan Africa is still better positioned to weather the coming market turbulence than other emerging markets. 

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In a report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a useful analysis of the challenges entrepreneurs face as they try to build small and medium-sized businesses in Africa's largest economy as well as the steps the government and SMEs themselves can take to improve the financing environment and the energy, transportation and information technology infrastructure. Adam Green of the EIU summarizes the report's findings. 

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Big continent, large population, strong growth; three characteristics that help frame the 'Africa Rising' narrative.  But which regions and countries offer the most attractive opportunities and why? An interesting overview by Ben Longman of market research company Trendtype with analysis of some of the most attractive niche markets on the continent. 

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