The first closure of the fund with a total of $500 million was successful for Johannesburg-based Alterra Capital Partners in raising $140 million.
Some of the fund investors are Aliko Dangote, David Rubenstein, and Bill Conway. The fund is planning to make investments in the telecommunications, technology, logistics, healthcare, and retail sectors of Africa’s economy.
In addition to Allianz SE’s AfricaGrow fund, other participants in the fund include Norfund AS, Standard Bank Group Ltd., International Finance Corp., and Germany’s Deutsche Investitions- and Entwicklungsgesellschaft GmbH.
Genevieve Sangudi, Eric Kump, Idris Mohammed, and Bruce Steen were all formerly employed by the Carlyle Group when they went on to create Alterra Capital Partners in 2020. The Carlyle Group had previously been successful in raising $700.0 million for an Africa-centric fund in 2014, but it pulled out of the African market in 2020.
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During the time that it was withdrawing from the continent, Alterra Capital Partners started working as sub-advisors for Carlyle’s Africa fund. Diamond Bank and J&J Transport each received an investment of 147 million dollars from that fund, which was one of its investments.
“This is an excellent time to put money to work in Africa, as many of the current macro themes provide attractive potential investment opportunities. For example, the power challenges across Africa provide opportunities to invest in private distributed power solutions while technology continues to drive Africa’s digital transformation at a rapid pace,” Sangudi said.
According to Sangudi, the company has provided a return of $600 million to its investors, has been successful in exiting six companies, and has invested approximately $1 billion in 23 different companies. Large private equity firms have either cut their investments in Africa or left the continent entirely; nevertheless, Carlyle is adjusting its strategy in order to deal with the distinctive commercial environment on the continent.
In order to protect itself from a possible decline in the value of the local currency on the continent, the company plans to invest 50 percent of its total capital in businesses that predominantly bring in income in dollars.
About Alterra Capital Partners
Africa is the primary focus of Alterra Capital Partners, a private equity firm that works in partnership with excellent business owners and management teams to help build their respective companies. Alterra seeks to do business with domestically focused enterprises that satisfy the fundamental requirements of consumers and essential requirements of businesses.
The team has a total private equity experience of over one hundred years and has put over two billion dollars of capital into twenty-three different firms located across Africa.
Since the team has spent decades living and working on the continent, it is able to draw on its vast knowledge as well as its extensive network of contacts to propel the expansion of its investments.
Individuals from Carlyle Africa and Emerging Capital Partners, two of the most experienced management teams on the African continent, came together to form Alterra Capital Partners. The long-standing working relationship between each team, as well as their complementary investment strategies, regional footprints, and shared vision, were the primary driving forces behind the combination.
The Alterra team is comprised of seasoned investment professionals who have expertise across a variety of industries and are supported by a significant amount of cumulative private equity experience. Private equity investment has been the primary focus of the Managing Directors’ careers for an average of 18 years.
Together, they have made investments in 23 firms across the key areas of Africa, totalling more than $2 billion. As a result of these investments, they have established a comprehensive grasp of the transactional and operating difficulties as well as the potential present on the Continent.