The first $1 billion-plus Africa-focused private equity fund has been raised by Helios Investment Partners, a London-based group founded almost a decade ago by a pair of Nigerian-born dealmakers, CPAfrica reports.
Helios operates a family of funds and investment types, including business formations, growth equity investments, structured investments in listed entities and large scale leveraged acquisitions across Africa. About 60% of the Helios’ new fund is been generated from existing investors.
According to Tope Lawani, Helios’ co-founder, “the size of the capital raising and the participation of pension funds and sovereign wealth funds is a sign that private equity in Africa is maturing”. However he cautioned by alerting that, soon many African countries are going to suffer an “adverse impact” on their currencies as capital flows back to the US.
He further stated that the downturn will turn into an opportunity “it is an excellent time to invest: asset values are going to come down”.
CPAfrica noted that the rise in funding has encouraged other private equity funds such as the Carlyle Group to launch Africa focused funds.
Helios Investment Partners is an investor in Interswitch, the largest electronic payment company in West Africa, and MallforAfrica, an e-commerce company.
