East Africa’s largest money manager targets $5 billion AUM.

Plus Nigeria’s largest combined new issue & liability management $400 million offer and Grit Real Estate secure Africa’s Largest syndicated sustainability-linked real estate debt facility.

In today’s This week in Africa Finance a roundup of interesting news, trends, and dealmaking:

1. Africa’s Largest syndicated sustainability-linked real estate debt facility.

Leading pan-African Real Estate Company Grit Real Estate Income Group has secured Africa’s largest syndicated sustainability-linked real estate debt facility of $306 million arranged by Standard Bank. The transaction will be finalised at the end of October as a revolving credit facility, (inclusive of a small accordian piece), and is the largest for Sub-Saharan Africa’s real estate sector

2. East Africa’s largest money manager targets $5 billion AUM

East Africa’s largest money manager Uganda’s National Social Security Fund plans to expedite the growth of its asset base to $5 billion as reported by Bloomberg. The state controlled company’s asset has increased by 15% since june and currently two years ahead of its target.

• The National Social Security Fund Assets under Management increased by 11% to Shs17.3trillion.

• Member contributions increased by 9% to Shs1.48trillion during the same period under review.

3. Nigeria’s largest combined new issue & liability management $400 million offer.

Nigeria’s Fidelity Bank has successfully issued a US$400 million 5-year Eurobond. The transaction is the refinancing of the Bank’s US300million Senior Unsecured Notes issued in May 2018. The largest combined new issue & liability management offering by a Nigerian issuer, was managed by Citigroup Incorporated, Renaissance Capital, and Standard Bank Group Limited. Upon final maturity of the Eurobond, noteholders received a total of US$421 million covering the principal amount and the accrued 6 months coupon in line with the executed Trust Deeds.   

4. British Government’s announces £174.5 million finance package for key African construction projects.

The United Kingdom has annouced two landmark finance packages of £174.5 million for key construction projects in Togo and Benin. The funding through the UK Export Finance support will unlock £82 million in export opportunities for UK businesses and build key infrastructure. The deals are funded by both Deutsche Bank and MUFG Bank and guaranteed by UK Export Fiance (UKEF)

 Private Equity :

• UAE-based alternative investment manager Gulf Capital has exited its investment in one of the largest olive oil exporters and fully-integrated producer CHO group.

M & A :

• Sovereign Fund of Egypt and EFG Hermes backed Egypt Education Platform(EEP) has acquired a majority stake in Egyptian education content developer Selah El- Telmeez

• Moroccan-based leading outsourcing and customer relationship expert Outsourcia Group has acquired the Tunisian contact center PhoneAct.

• Egypt-based fintech valU has acquired an equity stake in the social payment app Kiwe .

• Leading East African solar energy solution provider Sun King has acquired Lome-based off-grid solution provider and distributor Soleva.

• Health and Development in Action (HEDA) Cameroonian non-profit organisation has acquired US-based organisation Metabiota.

• Sub-Saharan-focused real estate private equity platform Kasada has acquired The Lamantin Beach Resort & Spa.

Project Debt

• Egyptian b2b trucking platform Trella, has secured $6million in debt financing from US International Development Financing Corporation (DFC) and ALMA Sustainable Finance.

Venture Capital Deals

• Egyptian b2b groceries e-commerce platform MaxAB has raised $40million, with investors that includes British International Investment (BII) and American private equity firm Silver Lake.

• Nigerian e-commerce platform for small businesses to manage inventory and payments Bumpa has raised $4million from investors Base10 Partners, Plug & Play Ventures, DFS Labs, and FirstCheck Africa among others.

The Economy :

• The Central Bank of Ghana has raised its interest rate to a more than five years high of 24.5%

• The Central Bank of Uganda has raised its key interest rate to 10% the highest in three years.

• Moody’s expect Angola fiscal surplus to exceed 2.5% of its GDP.

People Moves :

• International Finance Corporation (IFC) has appointed  Madalo Minofu as Country Manager for Ethiopia, Zambia and Malawi  and Malick Fall as its new Country Manager for Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the Republic of Congo.