Development Partners International Raises US$900M Africa Fund

Development Partners International

Development Partners International (DPI), a Lodon, UK-based investment firm focused on Africa, closed African Development Partners III Fund (ADP III), at US$900m, with an additional US$250m of dedicated co-investment capital.

This brings a total of US$1.15 billion for investments on the continent.

ADP III secured capital from a broad range of leading pension and sovereign wealth funds, development finance institutions, endowment and foundations, insurance companies, fund-of-funds, asset managers, and impact investors. The global investor base represents 20 countries across North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In addition to support from existing investors, DPI added over 25 new LPs to its investor base.

The fund will invest in established companies in industries that benefit from Africa’s middle class and the increasing digital transformation of the continent, including financial services, healthcare, agri-business, education, and telecom
infrastructure.

All investments have the highest standards of impact and environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) work. In doing this, DPI is using its proprietary DPI Management System toolkit to deliver impact in line with 10 of the UN Sustainable Development goals, as well as driving the highest standards of ESG.

ADP III has made four investments to date, including:
• Channel VAS, a global fintech business providing mobile financial services;
• SICAM, a Tunisian tomato producer, in one of the largest private equity transactions
undertaken in the country;
• Kelix Bio, a biopharmaceutical platform broadening access to speciality generic drugs across Africa; and
• MNT-Halan, a Egyptian fintech ecosystem.

Led by Runa Alam, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, and Joanne Yoo, Managing Director, DPI is an investment firm focused on Africa with US$2.8bn in assets under management across its three funds.
Since founding in 2007, the firm’s funds have invested in 23 portfolio companies across 29 African countries and 17 industries. Portfolio companies employ over 49,000 people.

FinSMEs

05/10/2021