Orange backs Africa Internet Group with $85mln, MCP takes 43% Cieptal stake, Ebobissé to head up Africa50 and other african private capital news

April 11th, 2016

The weekly roundup of Africa's Private Capital news

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Here's the latest weekly wrap of the most interesting Africa-related private equity, infrastructure and venture capital deal stories, market opinion articles and information pieces. Thank you for being a reader and we look forward to continuing to keep you informed on the private capital investment themes, deals and fundraisings in Africa.

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The Week in brief...

If you thought the week before last was a little light on the private capital deal front in Africa, think again. Last week was particularly slow, perhaps a hangover from the holiday season just ended. We'll have to wait and see whether enough momentum has built to push through some more activity in the upcoming week.

The highest profile deal of the week involved one of Africa's e-commerce darlings-- Jumia--or to be more precise, the e-commerce business's owner, Africa Internet Group. Having raised about $326 million so far this year from a roster of blue chip investors that included Goldman Sachs and AXA, the Rocket Internet-backed group landed another $85 million last week, striking a deal with the corporate investment arm of mobile telco, Orange. How much equity this earned Orange was not disclosed. In addition to the capital, the deal marks the beginning of a strategic relationship between the two organizations to help Africa Internet Group grow its portfolio of e-ventures across 12 countries in which both companies have a common presence. As well as Jumia, Africa Internet Group owns and operates a network of online and mobile startup platforms across several consumer verticals including Easy Taxi, Everjobs, HelloFood, Jovago and Zando, giving it exposure to a total of 23 African markets.

The northern part of the continent saw the only other private equity transaction of the week. In the latest deal for its €120 million second fund, Mediterrania Capital Partners is taking a 43% stake in Cieptal Cars, an Algerian provider of log-term car rental and other auto related transportation and maintenance services. The capital will be used to acquire more cars and trucks for its fleet as the company, which sells its services to corporate customers primarily in the Oil and Gas sector, looks to further diversify its business-to-business client mix as well as start offering its service outside Algeria.

A busted transaction also grabbed some attention last week, if only to officially draw a curtain across the deal. Sun International has shelved plans to acquire casino operator Peermont Group in an almost $775 million deal that was first announced in March 2015. The news was hardly surprising given the South African Competition Commission's recommendation to the Competition Tribunal that the deal be prohibited. According to the terms of the deal, regulatory approval needed to obtained by the end of March 2016.

The financial services sector provided us with a couple of interesting developments last week. Chase Bank Kenya, which counts Amethis Finance, responsAbility Participations and German development finance institution KfW among its shareholders, became the country's third bank to go into receivership since June 2015 after it faced a liquidity crunch. The country's central bank Governor tells Bloomberg that the investors are committed to recapitalizing the bank and re-opening it as soon as possible.

As Barclays looks at divesting its African operations, Bloomberg also reported that a group of South African investors are mulling whether to acquire a 10% stake in the business. Public Investment Corporation, which manages the South African's Government's Employee Pension Fund, is among the members of the consortium, which, according to a source, is planning to meet with Barclays next week.

In common with other regions in the world, M&A activity in Africa and the Middle East dropped in the first quarter of 2016 according to the latest report from Mergermarket. The slowdown was particularly marked in the Africa and the Middle East region, with the number of deals falling below 100 for the first time since 2013. But while the volume of deals slipped, the total value of deals, at $8.9 billion, held steady, dropping 1.2% compared to the same period in 2015.

And finally, Alain Ebobissé, the Global Head of IFC InfraVentures, the World Bank's Global Infrastructure Development Fund, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Africa50, the Pan-African infrastructure investment platform backed by the African Development Bank and twenty-two African countries with $830 million. Ebobissé has been at the IFC since 1999, where he now leads a team of highly skilled and experienced infrastructure specialists in the development of and investment in several infrastructure projects across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.

To read more on these and other stories from the last week, please scroll down for the abstracts and links.

Rocket Internet's Africa Internet Group lans $85 million from mobile telco Orange

Deals News...

Private Equity

Africa Internet Group lands an additional $85mln

// africacapitaldigest.com

Fresh from raising almost $326 million in funding from a range of blue chip investors that included French insurer AXA and Goldman Sachs, Rocket Internet-backed ecommerce company Africa Internet Group has landed an additional $85 million equity investment from Orange Digital Ventures, the corporate investment arm of mobile operator, Orange, for an undisclosed stake.