African Capital Alliance Completes Significant Equity Investment in WIOCC to drive long-term growth
African Capital Alliance (ACA), a leading pan-African alternative investment firm focused on managing investments across Africa, is pleased to announce its equity investment, via its CAPE IV fund, into WIOCC (West Indian Ocean Cable Company), Africa’s hyperscale infrastructure provider. ACA’s investment forms part of WIOCC’s $200m capital raise. The investment will support WIOCC in its expansion strategy across Africa and accelerate its investment in enhancing the continent’s digital infrastructure.
Established in 2007, WIOCC operates an exceptional hyperscale communications platform that delivers critical services to its wholesale clients across 30 countries in Africa and many more globally. The platform comprises more than 75,000km of terrestrial fibre interconnecting well over 100 Points of Presence (PoPs), and seamlessly integrated with its strategic investments in multiple subsea systems. One of the leading players in Africa’s wholesale connectivity market, WIOCC is responsible for more than 50% of capacity activated on the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), a key undersea fibre-optic cable system connecting countries and consumers in Eastern and Southern Africa to the rest of the world.
The current high calibre management team has been in situ since the founding of the company and has had a proven track record of delivering double-digit revenue and EBITDA growth over the last four years towards building a world-class business.
ACA will partner with WIOCC to support the management team in expanding and extending what is Africa’s first, truly hyperscale network infrastructure, accelerating rollout of new digital infrastructure to support its wholesale clients – cloud operators, content providers, fixed and mobile telcos, ISPs and other operators – in taking advantage of the many opportunities Africa has to offer – reaching underserved communities, and providing opportunities to millions of people in those remote areas. WIOCC, with ACA as a partner, is addressing strong market fundamentals with internet penetration expected to expand significantly. ACA’s aim will be to ensure that it continues to support WIOCC’s growth through innovative, sustainable strategies.
Commenting on the announcement, Paul Kokoricha, Partner, African Capital Alliance, said: “WIOCC is a fast-growing wholesale capacity provider in Africa that has positive market fundamentals given the rate at which internet penetration is growing and the desire for more OTT services. Our partnership with them will deliver their vision of being Africa’s leading carriers’ carrier, setting the standard by which performance is measured in the industry, through the delivery of robust and creative solutions for each client, with exceptional support, leading to successful long-term partnerships. We are impressed with the management team, and we are confident our partnership will deliver for all stakeholders.
Chris Wood, CEO of WIOCC, added: “We are excited to conclude this stage of our capital raise to support further expansion of our hyperscale infrastructure. Telecommunications is a critical service that is helping to drive financial and digital inclusion across Africa, both connecting people to the financial system and digitalizing businesses. We have made significant progress over the last few years and built a solid foundation from which to grow. The inward investment and partnership with ACA will help us in enabling businesses and consumers in Africa to participate in and benefit from digital economy. ACA’s track record and partnership mentality will be a welcome addition to WIOCC, and we very much look forward to working with them for long-term sustainable growth.”
Ashraf Deenmahomed Speaks at the CISI Wealth Summit
A global network of professionals working in wealth, investment management, and financial services came together for the CISI’s Global Wealth Summit 2021, a three-event series on November 16, 2021. The summit, which was hosted, virtually attracted eminent speakers from this sector, including some of the most well-known thought leaders in the world.
Ashraf Deenmahomed, COO of African Capital Alliance; Ononuju Irukwu, Chartered MCSI, MCBI, HCIB, Head of Private Banking, First Bank of Nigeria; Erica Bruce, President of the South African Institute of Stockbrokers, and Paul Njoki, CEO of Standard Chartered Investment Services engaged in an insightful panel discussion to explore the African business ecosystems, its divergence, and ease of doing business across the different regions.
Ashraf highlighted many opportunities to explore in the energy sector- as everyone is transitioning to renewable energy, and energy infrastructure is expected to boom shortly. He explained that African countries could take advantage of the diverse energy infrastructural prospects through high-level government commitments like subsidies.
In his closing statement, he remarked that everything in Africa is an opportunity. He further said that in relation to more developed continents, Africa adapts easier to innovation and new elements. However, there is a gap between the poor and uneducated, which, when closed, would result in lots of competition as Africans are both talented and passionate.
DEG acquires a minority equity stake in Ashwah Holdings Limited, parent company of Daraju Industries Limited
DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, Germany’s development finance institution and a subsidiary of KfW Group, announced today the acquisition of a minority equity stake in Ashwah Holdings Limited (“Ashwah”), the parent company of Daraju Industries Limited (“Daraju”) – one of Nigeria´s leading manufacturers of FMCG products in the personal care and household care segment. Ashwah is also currently a portfolio company of African Capital Alliance (ACA). By investing in Ashwah, DEG continues its focus of supporting indigenous emerging market companies to further industrialize and become regional leaders. As part of this deal, DEG will provide growth financing as well as advisory services to the management of the company.
Ashwah, via its flagship company Daraju Industries Limited, manufactures and trades over 100 stock keeping units (SKUs) of products tailored to meet the everyday needs of the middle to mass market consumers in Nigeria. The group’s key competitiveness lies in the company’s value for money offerings, strong brands, diversified product portfolio, and significant production capacity.
Speaking on the transaction, Mr. Tunji Nelson, Investment Manager at DEG said: “We are delighted to be partnering with ACA in supporting the continued growth of Ashwah. We strongly believe that this is the ideal time to enter the personal care FMCG market in Nigeria, and that Ashwah, via Daraju provide an excellent platform. We look forward to supporting Ashwah and management in the company’s next phase of development”
Mr. Paul Kokoricha, Partner at ACA said: “Since our investment in 2018, Ashwah has continued to grow its operations and expand its manufacturing base. The management team, under the visionary and disciplined leadership of Peeyush Garg, have repeatedly demonstrated resilience and a deep understanding of the Nigerian FMCG market and this has reaffirmed our confidence in the company’s ability to deliver strong returns to our fund. ACA welcomes DEG as a co-investor in Ashwah. We are optimistic, that this partnership will further enable Ashwah deliver on its agreed targets, and likely exceed the expectations of all stakeholders. This makes us truly excited”.
Mr. Peeyush Garg, Chairman and CEO of Ashwah, said: “Together with our entire management team, we are very excited to be partnering with DEG. We are confident about DEG’s strong commitment to providing us with the additional technical backing that will continuously enable us to support our customers. DEG definitely has the capacity, expertise, and network, to support us in expanding our business, as well as deliver innovative solutions for our market.”
About DEG
For almost 60 years, DEG has been a reliable partner to private-sector enterprises operating in developing and emerging-market countries. DEG provides its customers with tailor-made solutions, including financing, promotional programmes and advice tailored to individual needs. They can thus develop successfully and sustainably, while generating local added value and creating qualified jobs. With a portfolio of around EUR 8.5 billion in approximately 80 countries DEG is one of the world’s largest private-sector development financiers. Learn more: www.deginvest.de
DEG recently provided debt financing to United Bank for Africa (UBA). Speaking on DEG’s West African investments, Mr. Bernd Tilemann, Regional Head West Africa at DEG commented: “DEG is delighted to enter into a long-term cooperation with Ashwah. With our commitment we address the current economic challenges of the country while fostering private sector growth and impact in the largest economy of the continent.”
About African Capital Alliance
African Capital Alliance (ACA) is a market pioneer and leading pan-African investment firm, sponsoring funds and managing investments all over sub-Saharan Africa. Since its founding in 1997, ACA has invested across multiple market cycles through five private equity and real estate funds. Its CAPE IV fund raised in 2015 invested in Ashwah Holdings Limited in 2018. For more information, please visit https://www.acagp.com.
Transaction Advisors & Partners
The financial advisory on this transaction was performed by Delwik Gmbh, a boutique female led investment advisory company. As a development finance institution, DEG is proud of Delwik’s involvement, as it has added to DEG’s focus of promoting the UN Sustainable Development Goal #5 on gender diversity. For more information on Delwik Gmbh, please visit http://www.delwikgroup.com.
Legal advisors to DEG, the buyers/investors, include DLA Piper LLP and Walkers Global. For more information on DLA Piper, please visit https://www.dlapiper.com/en/us/. For more information on Walkers, please visit www.walkersglobal.com.
Legal advisors to Ashwah Shareholders, the Sellers, include Watson Farley & Williams LLP and Appleby (BVI) Limited and G Elias on Nigerian Law matters. For more information on Watson Farley & Williams, please visit https://www.wfw.com. For more information on Appleby, please visit www.applebyglobal.com. For more information on G Elias, please visit https://www.gelias.com/.
Okey Enelamah Speaks at the FT Live 2021 Conference
The Financial Times’ inaugural tech summit: #TechFTlive, themed “Aligning Policy, Strategy and Innovation”, gathered over 2,000 leading business innovators, policymakers, and industry-leading speakers across two days; 30 September – 1 October 2021, sharing deep insights on how technology is transforming business and society.
Okechukwu Enelamah, Chairman, African Capital Alliance (ACA) was a speaker on a panel that discussed the “Emerging Tech Hubs: Africa on the Horizon”. Discussions focused on the opportunities arising for the youngest, fastest-growing, and hyper-connected populations in Africa, and highlighted the most available sectors for digitisation, as well as possible barriers that could limit the impact of tech in Africa, which stakeholders need to be aware of.
The insights gathered from the discussions, reflected a booming tech scene in various countries in Africa, the spike in innovation as well as investment in recent years. There was a clear emphasis that boosting the overall tech potential in Africa would need to be a deliberate process of identifying the opportunities as well as the right funding levels & partners, backed by the right government policies. It was agreed that many countries, like Nigeria, have the ingredients, including the growing talent pool (that could benefit from further development). Conclusions were that though progress was slower than desired, inevitably, the right things are being done and therefore positive, predictable outcomes can be expected to materialise over time. In Okey’s words, “The cooperation and partnership between governments, privates, academic institutions, and trade associations, would be instrumental in building out the talent in Nigeria”.
About #TechFTlive
#TechFTLive is a Financial Times’ technology summit that held virtually, alongside its European leading tech festival, the TNW Conference. The summit explored new ways to harness the learnings on digitization amid lockdowns and provided insight on the key technology trends for the year ahead.
Development Partners International (“DPI”) and African Capital Alliance (“ACA”) become partners in Food Concepts as DPI sells 31% stake to ACA
Development Partners International (DPI) and African Capital Alliance (ACA) today announced an investment partnership in Africa’s leading multi-brand QSR group, Food Concepts Plc (Food Concepts). The deal will see the sale of 31% of Food Concepts by DPI, a leading pan-African returns and impact-driven private equity firm with a strong track record of investing across the continent and $2bn AUM, to ACA. ACA is a leading pan-African alternative investment firm focused on managing investments across sub-Saharan Africa, with $1.2bn AUM. DPI will retain ownership of a majority stake in the Company.
Commenting on the deal, David Butler, Managing Director at Food Concepts, said:
“DPI has been there for us every step of the way as we have turned Food Concepts into a business Nigeria can be proud of, building our brands and tripling our store footprint since 2015. We believe there is a significant runway for further growth thanks to our world-class corporate governance, a great African management team, and relentlessly taking care of our 4,200 people and 15 million customers every year. I am excited to welcome ACA as a new strategic partner alongside DPI and look forward to benefiting from their shared operational expertise and industry knowledge in the next chapter of our growth.”
Established in 2001, Food Concepts is the leading Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) operator in West Africa. The business is focused on the mass market and operates three of Nigeria’s best known, most loved, and fastest-growing brands, Chicken Republic, PieXpress, and Chop Box across 25 Nigerian states, as well as in Ghana, and an online delivery business growing at over 140% year on year. Led by a best-in-class and experienced management team, and with support from DPI, Food Concepts has grown rapidly from 58 stores in 2015 to over 180 stores today disrupting the Nigerian QSR sector with an affordable value proposition and demonstrating exceptional financial and operational performance across economic cycles.
Food Concepts maintains a strong commitment to operating responsibly as a business, focused on developing local talent, and driving diversity and inclusion across the company. Since 2015, it has created around 3,300 jobs directly and many more in its supply chain, which is 99% localized. Women comprise 51% of the workforce and 57% of the management team. The business was cited at the 2021 G7 summit as a leading success story in the development of women leaders.
ACA and DPI will work together to support Food Concepts on its next phase of growth and help drive the business’ regional expansion strategy.
Runa Alam, Chief Executive of DPI, said “Food Concepts demonstrates the tremendous growth the Nigerian mass market can offer for companies that are able to capture the opportunity. The company has grown sales at over 40% every year since 2015, has developed true Nigerian “super-brands”, and is just at the beginning of its growth. We are excited to welcome ACA as partners and look forward to continuing our work with David and the Food Concepts team, as the business enters the next stage of its growth. Food Concepts faced some real challenges earlier in its history and we are very proud of our role supporting management in turning the business around and making it what it is today.”
The Chairman of ACA, Okey Enelamah, stated “We are excited to be part of this African success story and to work alongside partners who share our vision to empower businesses in Africa. Food Concepts is an excellent business with strong foundations built by the existing management team and supported by DPI. The Company has demonstrated its ability to innovate and, in the process, has evolved into the leading QSR company in West Africa. Our experience in the FMCG sector and understanding of the local consumers’ preferences will play an instrumental role in delivering further value to the Company. Through our joint efforts with DPI and the management team, we are confident that the Company will achieve its planned growth and sustainability goals.”
Stanbic and Norton Rose Fulbright served as financial and legal advisors for DPI, and BCLP served as legal advisors for ACA.
ENDS –
Media contacts
Edelman Smithfield
Alex Simmons / Olivia Adebo / Chloe Payne
Tel: +44 7970 174 353 / +44 7787 284 441 / +27 72 673 0535
Email: DPI@edelman.com
Hudson Sandler
Bertie Berger / Nelly Akpaka
Email: aca@hudsonsandler.com
Notes to Editors
About Food Concepts
Established in 2001, Food Concepts is the leading Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) operator in West Africa with over 180 stores across Nigeria and Ghana trading under the Chicken Republic, PieXpress, and Chop Box brands. Chicken Republic is among Nigeria’s most recognized brands. The business serves around 15 million customers per year and employs over 4,000 people. The business has shown consistent growth and world-class operational performance across economic cycles and is well-positioned to capture the huge untapped potential of the Nigerian and West African QSR market.
About DPI
DPI is a leading African private equity firm that has successfully managed funds through “up” and “down” cycles. Our first two funds, African Development Partners I and II (ADP I and ADP II), are ranked in the top quartile for performance by Cambridge Associates.
DPI has US$2.8bn in assets under management across its funds and committed co-investments.
The ADP funds strategy is to build a diversified pan-African portfolio of private equity investments in established and growing companies benefiting from the continent’s fast-growing middle class, innovation, and digital transformation
Since DPI’s founding in 2007, its funds have invested in 23 portfolio companies across 29 African countries and 17 industries. ADP portfolio companies employ over 49,000 people. During DPI’s investment, 18,000 jobs have been created.
In 2020, ADP III, became the first 2X Flagship Fund, as part of the global 2X Challenge, committing to integrate a gender lens into its investment process, and reflecting DPI’s long-standing commitment to gender equity. DPI has a female co-founder and CEO, one-third of the partners are women, and 50% of the firm are women.
As a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and to the Operating Principles for Impact Management, DPI promotes high ESG and Impact standards and seeks to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This includes the development of an innovative Impact and ESG Management System and key impact themes focused on:
Job Quality: SDG 8
Climate change: SDG 13
Gender balance: SDG 5
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About African Capital Alliance (ACA)
African Capital Alliance (ACA) is a leading African-focused investment firm sponsoring and managing private equity and real estate funds in sub-Saharan Africa. The firm has, to date, raised over US$1.2 billion in capital commitments across several funds.
Established in 1997, with the belief that private sector growth can be a catalyst for African development and economic growth, ACA has since grown to be one of the most experienced alternative investment firms in the region, with more than 51 investments across a number of high-growth sectors and industries.
ACA’s investment funds have a longstanding commitment to generating sustainable value alongside commercial performance. The firm’s portfolio companies support over 22,000 full-time jobs, of which 40% are women and 95% are Nigerians. In addition to this, ACA’s investments have created over 6,000 direct jobs in the firm’s portfolio companies.
ACA aligns its investments to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 5 – gender equality, SDG 7 – affordable and clean energy, and SDG 8 – decent work and economic growth.
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