Mediterrania Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on growth investments for SMEs in North African and Sub-Saharan countries, has announced the first closing of its third capital growth fund, Mediterrania Capital III LP, at €103m.

MC III’s second closing is scheduled for mid-2018 with a target of €250m.

Mediterrania Capital III (MC III) provides growth capital to generalist small- and medium-cap companies based in North African and Sub-Sahara African countries including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon.

The fund will be investing €10-30m in eight to 12 investments, mainly in minorities (but not excluding majorities).

MC III investments focus on core sectors such as healthcare, finance, FMCG, education, transport and logistics.

As well as a number of new investors, Mediterrania Capital Partners’ historical LPs continue to back the private equity firm on its third fund efforts.

MC III’s investors include development finance institutions and commercial investors.

Albert Alsina, Founder and CEO of Mediterrania Capital Partners, said: “We are pleased to have completed the first closing of MC III as per plan in Q4 2017, and the continuous support of our historical LPs has been crucial in this."

"With our third fund, we continue to target core industries benefiting from positive market and demographic trends while also expanding our geographical scope and investment tickets. Today we have a strong pipeline of very good projects, with some ready to be executed,” he added.

Mediterrania Capital III LP is fully operational and plans to complete several investments in the coming months.

With offices in Abidjan, Algiers, Barcelona, Cairo, Casablanca, and Malta, Mediterrania Capital Partners takes an intensely proactive, hands-on approach to implementing its growth strategy by leading the governance of the companies and driving the key internal value creation process.

Consistent with its strategy, Mediterrania Capital Partners continues to search for SMEs with an equity value of €25m to €400m and expansion strategies into North African and Sub-Saharan African markets.