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.
Currencies in the sub-Saharan African (SSA) region have had a tumultuous ride this year, undermined by a prolonged commodity price slump, and the resultant spillover effects to the balance of payments and fiscal positions, as well as global growth concerns and external monetary policy decisions.
As the African continent continues to attract global interest, Mauritius is rising to become the natural gateway for investing in Africa, writes Shaffick Hamuth, Economist and former Senior Investment Advisor of the Board of Investment, Mauritius.
South Africa has a deep pipeline of available infrastructure assets, affirm Mark van Wyk (top), Head of Impact Investing, and Kasief Isaacs (bottom), Portfolio Manager: Infrastructure Development Fund, Mergence Investment Managers.
South Africa formally encourages investors to integrate into their investment decisions sustainability issues such as environmental, social and governance (ESG). Anna Lyudvig explores whether SA hedge funds have been taking ESG issues seriously.
Paris-based Amethis Finance stands out from the African private equity crowd. Its overwhelmingly private shareholder base is certainly a rarity in a universe heavily dependent on development finance institutions (DFIs), whilst the management team’s long-term dedication to the African continent has led them to design their very own investment and impact philosophy. We met with managing partner Luc Rigouzzo (pictured) in Cape Town to find out what that might be.
Investment in South African passive investment products grows by R100bn over past two years to R247bn, writes Mike Brown, Managing Director, etfSA.co.za
Jan Dehn, Head of Research at Ashmore, discusses why the rise of the USD in the past few years is now helping to restore competitiveness in Emerging Markets (EM) countries
Actis, an emerging markets investor, focuses on investments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The firm has a strong track record of backing high-quality businesses in Africa with over $3bn invested in 23 countries across the continent to date. AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with David Cooke, Director at Actis, about the firm’s investment strategy in Africa, opportunities and challenges.
