Africa’s leading mezzanine debt provider, Vantage Capital, is in the final stages of closing its third mezzanine fund. AGF catches up with Colin Rezek, co-Managing Partner at Vantage, to discuss their success story
Frontier and emerging markets have been through rather turbulent times over the past year to 18 months, mainly due to a confluence of global economic developments, the slowdown in China and resultant sell-off in commodity markets. These developments have hit African economies especially hard, with stock markets on the continent selling off more than 20% in the last year.
As we enter 2016, AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with leading industry experts about potential trends and themes facing the African asset management during the next 12 months
Ethiopia’s private equity market is relatively small by African standards, but has strong macro drivers that signal significant potential for future growth, writes Dorothy Kelso of AVCA
Africa-focused fundraising had a strong year in 2015, returning to pre-Global Financial Crisis (GFC) levels of capital raised and the number of funds closed growing from 2014, writes Christopher Elvin, Head of Private Equity Products at Preqin
As CBO Investment Management seeks to raise a $150m fund dedicated to investing in the under serviced SME space in West Africa, AGF’s Anna Lyudvig catches up with Managing Partner, Bex Nwawudu, to learn more
Jacques Verreynne of NKC African Economic says that the country has for many years been on an unsustainable path
Doing good and making profits must be aligned for both to be sustainable, writes James Brice, CEO and founder of EBS Advisory
Acorn Private Equity has recently announced that its maiden fund, focused on SMEs in Southern Africa, completed its final exit and achieved lucrative returns for investors. AGF catches up with Gerhard Visagie, Investment Director at Acorn, to learn more about its success story and future plans
Andreas Schonning of Global Real Estate Institute speaks with Carlo Matta, CEO at Laurus Development Partners about the West African real estate market and how it will look like five years from now
The East African region continues to attract private equity (PE) investors and while Kenya remains the primary target for PE capital, Tanzania is also seeing as increasingly popular investment destination, writes Anna Lyudvig
There’s been an increasingly popular belief off late, that improving macroeconomic indicators across Africa suggest stable monetary policies and currency regimes are expected - with a better focus on debt management and issuance. While Africa has always promised to deliver on that front, it has only now started to gather a wider audience in financial circles. For apart from the continent being one the fastest expanding regions in the world today, with diverse internal and external trends propelling its growth, it has also achieved stability in its political landscape. All this makes for a potent mix to enable further growth.
The AGF Private Equity Top 40 is our annual guide to the most influential, innovative and powerful figures in the private equity industry. Ranging from pan-emerging markets giants to local fund managers, this year’s list comprises individuals who have been in the forefront of Africa private equity and venture capital investing.
Currently at over 1 billion inhabitants, the African population is set to double by 2050. With such unprecedented growth, a number of existing challenges around food security and affordable housing will become acute if there are not adequate interventions from governments, NGOs and the private sector.
