The Carlyle Group has agreed to acquire a majority share of Amrod, a fast-growing supplier of promotional products and clothing, serving distributors in South Africa and neighboring countries. 

Funding for this investment will come from the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund, while the three founders of the business will reinvest alongside Carlyle.

The transaction is expected to close in 2016, subject to regulatory approvals.

Further financial details were not disclosed. 

Braam Verster, Director of the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund, said: “Through capital investment and acquisitions, we think the company has terrific growth potential. We are particularly excited about the new state-of-the-art warehouse, production facility and showroom that is due to open in January. We believe it will allow the company to improve its lead times and serve additional countries in East and West Africa.”

Founded in 2000, Amrod has grown organically to become one of the largest promotional products suppliers in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

The product offering includes promotional gifts and clothing across many categories, with the large majority of products branded in the company’s state-of-the-art in-house facility.

Eric Kump, co-Head of the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund, said: “Carlyle is delighted to invest alongside the founders of Amrod. Amit Brill, Nimrod Barlev, Craig Friedman and their talented management team have built a high quality company with a loyal customer base.  We will work to take customer service to the next level and explore geographic and product expansion.”

The founders of Amrod added: “We are excited and optimistic about our partnership with Carlyle, which brings a strong combination of pan-African experience and global reach, which will support our growth ambitions in the region.” 

“We are confident our existing customers will benefit from our strengthened offering and we look forward to bringing Amrod products and services to customers beyond South Africa,” they said.

Established in 2012, the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund, with $698m of committed capital, has invested almost $300m to date across a variety of industries, including logistics, agribusiness, mining services, retail and financial services, and across a variety of geographies, including Nigeria, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa.

The fund makes buyout and growth capital investments in private and public companies from offices in Johannesburg, South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria.