Aureos Africa Fund has increased its funds under management to USD317.8m after its initial closing in September 2008.
Aureos Africa Fund has increased its funds under management to USD317.8m after its initial closing in September 2008.
The fund is an initiative of Aureos Capital, the private equity fund management company specialising in investing in small to mid-sized businesses in emerging markets.
The fund invests in businesses in Africa, across several sectors, countries and transaction types, focusing on those investment opportunities where Aureos can see potential to achieve above average growth via regional expansion.
It has so far made nine investments across sectors such as financial services, TMT, FMCG, building products, real estate development and agri-business. The companies operate in more than 15 different countries in total, reflecting the regional character of most of the portfolio companies.
The investor base, which at first close consisted mainly of international finance institutions and US-based private sector investors, has been further diversified with recent commitments from European pension funds, family offices and commercial banks, as well as from European development finance institutions.
Sev Vettivetpillai, chief executive of Aureos Advisers, says: ‘Investors that have been looking to invest in Africa have been impressed by our track record across the continent. I think our ability to raise additional capital for the Aureos Africa Fund throughout the global downturn proves that.
‘Despite the global economic slowdown, we are seeing continuous economic growth in Africa and foreign direct investment seems to be picking up providing a vibrant economic platform for building a well diversified portfolio of sustainable companies in the SME segment of the market.’
The fund seeks to make initial investments of up to USD10m in small to mid-size companies with a strong potential to expand to pan-African businesses within two to three years via buy and build strategies and/or through carefully executed organic growth.
The fund expects to reach its final close by mid-December 2009.
