Catalyst Principal Partners has completed a first close of its Catalyst Fund II at $103m, being in excess of the target fund size and over 80% of the final achieved hard-cap for its first fund, Catalyst Fund I. 

Fund II is targeting $175m of assets under management and expects to hold a final close later in the year. 

Catalyst Fund II is supported by a diverse group of leading global investors including fund of funds, development finance institutions and family offices.

Catalyst Principal Partners is a Nairobi based private equity firm focusing on investing in high growth mid-sized companies across Eastern Africa. 

The firm’s sector focus includes consumer goods and retail, financial and business services, healthcare, industrials, manufacturing and value-add processing, technology and telecommunications. 

Catalyst Fund I ($123m) is fully invested in a regionally diversified portfolio of nine high-growth companies performing in line with the investment strategy.

Fund II will maintain Catalyst’s regional investment strategy.

Paul Kavuma, CEO of Catalyst, said: “Catalyst has demonstrated its ability to source proprietary deals and actively manage its investments, and has built a diversified regional portfolio of leading products and brands that are dominant within their respective markets and consumer segments, with a focus on increasingly aspirational mass market and middle income consumers.” 

“We are gratified by the strong support Catalyst continues to receive from regional and international institutional investors seeking exposure to attractive investment opportunities within a growing, increasingly integrated region in which Catalyst has played a pioneering role in the development of the private equity asset class,” he added.