California-based firm Africa Capital Group has announced it is now raising capital for its Africa-focused equity fund from US investors.

Ryan Hoover, Director of Research at Africa Capital Group, said: “We are seeking investors who wish to contribute to and capitalize on the region’s economic growth, can tolerate the inevitable ups and downs in African stock markets, and who are looking to maintain a long-term investment position in the continent.”

“After managing Africa-focused separate accounts for private clients for some time, we are happy to now offer this new fund which gives our investors expanded access to Africa’s fastest-growing stock markets,” he added.

The investment objective of the fund is long-term capital growth.

The fund will invest in listed equities, predominantly in Sub-Saharan African markets, and will have a portfolio of between 30 and 50 stocks.

The Delaware-domiciled Africa Frontier Fund employs a bottom-up company-by-company approach to portfolio construction, taking into account such factors as competitive advantage, growth rate, valuation, profitability, management skill and accessibility, currency risk and political risk.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, Africa Capital Group favors South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Namibia, Angola, and Côte d’Ivoire.

“Our investment strategy is to invest predominantly in domestically oriented businesses in such industries as financials, telecoms, consumer goods, healthcare, food and beverage, utilities, and infrastructure,” said Hoover.

“We believe the growing purchasing power of the African middle class will be a strong and persistent trend over the coming decades,” he said.

The fund is limited to 100 investors in the fund with the stated minimum investment of $250,000.

“In order to secure early commitments, however, we will be accepting lower amounts for our first ten investors,” said Hoover.