The green bond market continues to grow, with analysts predicting 20% growth this year. While Africa only accounts for 2% of the existing green bond market, we are seeing African governments laying the foundations needed to grow their share of green finance. Given the market growth and infrastructure challenges Africa faces, this couldn’t come at a better time for institutional investors.
The good news for private equity fund managers in recent years has been the marked shift in global institutional investment towards private markets investments. According to Blackrock, one of the world’s largest asset managers, the largest pension fund markets have increased their exposure to alternatives from 4% to 25% over the past 20 years. This has included private credit, infrastructure, unlisted real estate, and a host of more niche strategies, and has led to a dramatic increase in fund sizes and capital available for investment in unlisted investments globally. It has also shifted the balance of power from LPs to established GPs, who have had more than enough interest in their funds to pick and choose their LPs. In certain instances this has even led to enhanced economics for the GPs, as LPs have agreed to skewed terms just to gain access to top rated funds. In a few instances, we have heard of the emergence of 3 and 30 fees arrangements being agreed.
In May, AGF attended AFSIC in London, UK - the largest Africa investment event taking place annually outside Africa. On the sidelines of the conference, we’ve met with Sanjeev Gupta, Africa Finance Corporation's (AFC) Executive Director for Financial Services.
The “Belt and Road Initiative” is a future-oriented initiative that will bring many benefits to global economic development and people. Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Wu Peng recently said that the cooperation between China and Kenya has deepened political trust, expanded economic and trade cooperation, and promoted the continuous development of the cooperative partnership.
Under the guidance of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, international cooperation has become a major trend. In order to build a cross-industry cooperation platform and help the mining industry “go global”, at the second overseas mining investment high-level forum, experts and scholars had a comprehensive and multifaceted discussion and made some suggestions. Mining investment opportunities in Africa caught many investors’ attention.
Britam Financial Holdings has recently approved an anchor investment in Tiserin Capital, Africa’s first south-south private equity fund. The investment is a breakthrough in the region’s financial markets highlighting the important role pension funds, insurance and other local investors can play in supporting long term investments in the region. We caught up with Kenneth Kaniu, Britam Asset Managers CEO, to learn more about the deal, the firm, and the needs and constraints of institutional investors in Kenya and East Africa.
According to Preqin, private capital dry powder has reached $2trn and is climbing. This means that a large amount of capital is committed by limited partners who are then called on, once an investment opportunity is identified, to provide capital for the purchasing of equity (sometimes mixed with debt). The trouble is that capital commitments continue to grow and are not being called on in what appears to be a sellers’ market.
In a region where only a minority of the population has access to a bank account and SMEs struggle to get financial help from traditional banks, Albert Alsina, CEO and Founder of Mediterrania Capital Partners, explains how the PE industry is becoming a catalyst for the African Fintech ecosystem’s development, enabling large-scale banking and supporting entrepreneurs and SMEs in their expansion plans.
On my first visit to Nigeria as I made my way around the city between meetings, I visited the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos. There were many interesting displays but two things stood out for me. Firstly, was that for some reason the museum had an infestation of mosquitoes that warmly welcomed us and the Black Mercedes in the centre.
Proparco, the French Development Finance Institution (DFI), has been active in Africa for over 40 years. The DFI has developed a comprehensive approach, with presence on the continent through six regional offices, covering its debt, guarantee and equity offerings. AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Jérémie Ceyrac, Head of Equity, Responsible Investments to learn more about financial products on offer, recent investments in Africa and African impact investment scene.
Mezzanine debt funds can be an attractive investment for investors looking to achieve regular cash distributions and potential high total returns, with low volatility and downside protections.
After careful consideration and analysis, the Franklin Templeton Investment Funds (FTIF) Board of directors decided to merge the FTIF Templeton Africa Fund into the $65.9m FTIF Templeton Frontier Markets Fund, effective February 15, 2019. Due to both funds sharing similar investment objectives and target investor profiles, the Board believes that this merger will offer economies of scale to existing shareholders.
The fundraising environment in the Southern African region remained rather challenging in 2018, mainly due to the economic and political environment. This resulted in the decrease in the amount of capital raised by the industry.
