Verdant Capital Advises on USD 124 Million Equity Raise for WIOCC
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 funds will be used to enhance connectivity within Africa and internationally. Through Open Access Data Centres (OADC), a newly established WIOCC Group company, the funds will also support the launch of a network of pan-African data centres designed to meet the needs of cloud providers and the wholesale community.
The introduction of strong new equity investors will bolster WIOCC’s expansion strategy across Africa and accelerate investment in the continent’s digital infrastructure. Strategic investments in the Equiano and 2Africa international subsea systems will enhance WIOCC’s existing core network infrastructure, providing additional multi-terabits (Tbps) of capacity. This will significantly expand WIOCC’s ability to deliver high-availability solutions across various African markets. Additionally, WIOCC’s terrestrial strategy, which includes deploying metro and national networks in key locations, will be extended to new countries and metropolitan areas, enhancing its portfolio of end-to-end solutions for clients across Africa.
A portion of the capital will be allocated to funding OADC, which is developing a transformative, interconnected network of open-access, carrier-neutral data centres across Africa. The initial phase includes data centres at key submarine cable landings in Lagos, Durban, and Mogadishu, enabling direct landing of international submarine capacity into carrier-neutral facilities. These centres will offer bespoke colocation facilities and seamless connectivity to new international subsea systems, eliminating the costs and risks associated with terrestrial backhauling. Construction and fit-out are already underway in Lagos and Durban, with both centres set to launch early in 2022, and the Mogadishu centre expected to be operational by the end of 2022. Subsequent phases will see the deployment of over 20 new data centres in strategic locations across the continent, focusing on major connectivity hubs in each country.
African Capital Alliance and IFC were attracted to this investment by the clear vision to develop high-quality, synergistic assets and solutions to support long-term client partnerships. These investments will position WIOCC to capitalise on the accelerating shift of infrastructure and services to the cloud, driving demand for data transmission, storage, and processing across wholesale, enterprise, and consumer markets in Africa. This aligns with WIOCC’s vision to make a lasting contribution to Africa’s communications landscape.
The successful capital raise highlights Verdant Capital’s expertise as a leading advisor on transactions involving prominent private equity investments in Africa.