Advanced Finance & Investment Group (AFIG Funds) has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), the regional stock exchange for UEMOA (the West African Economic and Monetary Union), for the financing of private companies via the stock exchange.

Through this partnership, AFIG Funds is backing the BRVM’s project to establish a platform dedicated exclusively to companies with high growth potential and local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UEMOA.

This major new initiative by the BRVM secured the support of AFIG Funds, a leading regional private equity fund manager.

Kossi Edoh Amenounve, CEO of the BRVM and of the DC/BR (Central Depository), said that the objective of this partnership is "to gain the support of a technical partner capable of participating in the implementation of a platform of the exchange dedicated to SMEs from the UEMOA region and facilitating their access to funding through the stock exchange."

Financing SMEs, which are the engines of growth of regional economies, has been a key priority for governments and the private sector of UEMOA states.

As part of its mandate to develop regional capital markets, the BRVM aims to develop new solutions to facilitate access to financing for regional companies.

Papa Madiaw Ndiaye, CEO of AFIG Funds, said that this partnership offers "a new priority option for the sale of our shareholding in portfolio companies through the new stock market platform dedicated to SMEs, while achieving strong returns”.

The BRVM and AFIG Funds agreed, in the framework of the partnership, to share experiences and to build synergies around their respective processes to promote access to the exchange for companies with high growth potential.

Based in Mauritius, AFIG Funds is an investment fund management company with $122m AUM.

Atlantic Coast Regional Fund (ACRF), the maiden fund of AFIG Funds, is a regional fund focused on 29 countries in West and Central Africa.

ACRF considers investments in all sectors, and targets strong growth companies, preferably with a regional scope, in its target region.

Ndiaye added that "a listing on the stock exchange is typically a preferred path for private equity funds around the world to exit portfolio investments”.

Founded in 1998, the BRVM is responsible for the organization of the stock market and the dissemination of market information within the UEMOA region.

It includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Dakar, Senegal on December, 9.