Verod Capital Management has announced the final close of Verod Capital Growth Fund III (Verod Fund III), exceeding the initial target, as well as the size of its predecessor fund, Verod Capital Growth Fund II.

Verod Fund III was oversubscribed, closing at its $200m hard cap.

Verod Fund III is supported by a diverse group of prominent global institutional investors and includes a mix of international fund of funds, asset managers, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and development finance institutions with extensive experience investing in emerging markets.

Danladi Verheijen, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Verod Capital, said: “With the current challenges facing the African PE fundraising market, we are very grateful for the confidence that our extremely high caliber set of investors have in our team and differentiated strategy. We look forward to deepening the successful long-term partnership we have with them.”

Eric Idiahi, Co-founder and Partner at Verod Capital, added: “We remain excited about the market prospects and look forward to finding and growing the best businesses in our region, which will generate attractive returns for our investors and positively impact our communities.”

Similar to Verod Fund II, the investment strategy for Verod Fund III is to focus on middle market growth companies in anglophone West Africa, with the aim of building a diverse portfolio across several industries including light manufacturing, consumer goods and services, business services, agriculture, education, healthcare and financial services.

Asante Capital acted as global fundraising adviser, Clifford Chance (UK), BLC Chambers (Mauritius) and Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie (Nigeria) acted as legal advisers, while Trident Trust (Mauritius) will provide administrative services to Verod Fund III.