Philafrica, a subsidiary of AFGRI, has sold its soya oil crushing plant, which trades in the market under the names Nedan, Marathon, Soya Ya Ka, Promax (soya oil cake). Philafrica, based in South Africa, is an investment company involved in food processing in South Africa, Mozambique, Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Its focus is on expanding food sourcing and production across the continent. AFGRI is owned by Helios Fairfax Partners, which is a leading pan-Africa-focused alternative investment manager, and the Public Investment Corporation of South Africa. The transaction reinforces Verdant Capital’s position as a leading advisor to the private equity […]
Verdant Capital has successfully raised ZAR 300 million (approx. USD 20 million) in debt financing for Bridge Taxi Finance from a small group of leading international impact investors. The funding will be used to grow the institution’s lease portfolio. Bridge Taxi Finance, based in South Africa, provides affordable credit facilities to South African drivers – each an entrepreneur running his own taxi business – in the minibus taxi industry. It has a vertically integrated business model that includes impact vehicle finance, day to day tracking, advice and management, and vehicle repairs and services. The company has financed over 3,200 entrepreneurs […]
Verdant Capital has successfully raised ZAR 150 million (approx. USD 10 million) in debt funding for Retail Capital. The first tranche of ZAR 50 million was drawn during the month of October and the balance of which will be drawn in 2022. Retail Capital is the first and largest Merchant Cash Advance provider in the South African SME market. The company was established ten years ago, and it has disbursed over ZAR 4.5 billion to more than 38 000 merchants since inception. It is on target to disburse ZAR 8 billion to small businesses by 2023. The business’ approach is […]
President Hakainde Hichilema’s victory in the August Zambian presidential election is said to have caused the winds of change to begin blowing within the country. His win was largely favoured and celebrated by the Zambian youth who constituted over 50% of the electorate. Alongside vows to foster a better democracy and restore the country’s economy, the President and his government also announced the creation of three new ministries: the Ministry of Technology and Science, the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment and the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development. Zambia’s new Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development is […]
In March 2020, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Bank of Nigeria (the “CBN”) announced the need to recapitalise the microfinance banking sector. The CBN in consideration of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic activities extended its deadline to April 2021 for microfinance banks (“MFBs”) to comply with the outlined minimum capital requirements. In March 2019, the CBN had reviewed the minimum capital requirements for MFBs, with a view to ensuring continued operations of these banks in rural, unbanked and underbanked areas of the economy. National MFBs were expected to meet the minimum capital […]
The shift towards disintermediated, de-centralised energy generation in Africa is moving at a fast pace. The failure of many African governments to meet the energy needs of their economies has forced individuals and businesses across the continent to seek alternate sources of power. To aggregate this demand, energy-as-a-service (EaaS) is becoming a scalable business model to entrepreneurs and companies that have been able to identify, implement, execute and derive its strategic benefits. OneWattSolar (Owatts) is a Nigeria-HQ, Africa focused “cleantech” decentralized EaaS aggregator, with a high end, transparent digital payment/blockchain platform. Owatts makes clean energy available to a wide spectrum […]
Kibo Capital Partners (“Kibo“) has sold its stake in the Kenyan logistics company General Cargo Group (“GCG“) to Velogic, the logistics arm of the Mauritian-based Rogers Group. Verdant Capital is pleased to have advised Kibo on this transaction. Kibo, which is focused on small and medium-sized enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean countries, has around $100 million in assets under management. It has backed 17 companies across nine countries. Verdant Capital is active in East African advisory and was ranked 3rd by DealMakers Africa for East African M&A in 2020. 2021 is also a strong year with four […]
Verdant Capital Advises on USD 124 Million Equity Raise for WIOCC Verdant Capital has successfully advised WIOCC Holding Company Limited (WIOCC) in raising USD 124 million in equity capital. Of this, USD 75 million was invested by CAPE IV, a fund managed by African Capital Alliance, a leading African private equity fund manager. Additionally, USD 30 million was invested by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in a follow-up round. The remaining balance was contributed by management and existing shareholders. This equity raise has been complemented by a debt capital raise, bringing the total capital raised to USD 200 million. The […]
