JP Morgan’s Worldwide Securities Services business has been appointed to provide private equity fund administration services to 8 Miles Fund I, a Pan-African private equity fund that plans to invest in businesses across a broad range of industries, with the aim of driving long-term growth in Africa.
8 Miles, which recently closed its first fund raising, plans to focus on growth sectors in Africa including agribusiness, consumer and retail, health, telecommunications, banking and financial services.
JP Morgan will provide a set of comprehensive services including fund and partnership accounting, capital call/distribution management, investor reporting, and investor tracking, investor relations support and treasury services.
The fund, which was an initiative of Bob Geldof, the musician and philanthropist, aims to become one of the largest private equity investors in Africa. Investors in the fund include the African Development Bank; CDC, which is the UK government-owned development-finance institution; and the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector arm.
James Hutter (pictured), Global Head of JP Morgan’s private equity and real estate services business within WSS, says: “We are excited to be working on such an innovative and worthwhile initiative, which demonstrates our ongoing commitment to Sub-Saharan and North Africa. Private equity funds of all sizes are increasingly turning to independent administrators like J.P. Morgan that have the global scale and reach to deliver administration services anywhere in the world."
Nathan Mintah, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of 8 Miles, says: “8 Miles will seek to invest in companies in our target sectors with the aim of supporting their growth into market-leading companies and regional champions in Africa. We look forward to working with JP Morgan, as fund administrator, to achieve 8 Miles’ objective of sustainable private equity investment in Africa.”
