African Development Partners III Fund (ADP III) has surpassed its US$800 million target and is set to close at US$900 million, with an additional US$250 million in dedicated co-investment capital, according to Development Partners International, a premier investment firm focused on Africa.
This takes the total amount invested on the continent to US$1.15 billion. ADP III becomes one of the largest funds dedicated to investing global capital in Africa as a result of the financing.
ADP III will invest in established and growing businesses in industries that benefit from Africa’s rapidly growing middle class and the continent’s burgeoning digital revolution.
All investments are held to the highest impact and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. DPI is leveraging its proprietary DPI Management System (“DPIMS”) toolkit to produce the effect in line with ten of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals while also driving the highest ESG standards.
“Africa is an intriguing investment location with favorable demographics, increased use of technology, and expanding consumer and corporate spending,” said Runa Alam, co-founder, and CEO of DPI. Against this environment, DPI has continued to achieve top quartile returns across the African continent by leveraging our team’s deep-rooted local experience.
“With our ADP III fund, we will focus on innovation-driven companies that are leading the digital transformation of the economies in which they operate in the future. Furthermore, our comprehensive integration of impact and ESG activities throughout the investment life cycle has earned us a reputation as a reliable partner.”
Leading pension and sovereign wealth funds, development financing institutions, endowment and foundations, insurance firms, fund-of-funds, asset managers, and impact investors contributed to ADP III.
Twenty countries from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa make up the worldwide investment base.
DPI added approximately 25 new limited partners to its investor base, in addition to strong support from existing investors.
This demonstrates DPI’s ability to establish institutional-grade investment possibilities in Africa while also delivering long-term environmental and economic benefits.
“The tremendous support for ADP III supports our strategic focus, creative approach, and investment discipline,” stated Joanne Yoo, Managing Director of DPI. We appreciate our investors’ confidence in DPI, and we are sure that our brilliant team will continue to provide competitive returns and impact.”
To date, ADP III has made four investments: Channel VAS, a leading global fintech business that provides mobile financial services; SICAM, a leading Tunisian tomato producer, in one of the country’s largest private equity transactions; Kelix Bio, a biopharmaceutical platform that expands access to specialty generic drugs across Africa; and MNT-Halan, Egypt’s leading fintech.
DPI also has a large pipeline of investment possibilities in Africa, with a concentration on major economic sectors like financial services, healthcare, agribusiness, education, and telecom infrastructure.
DPI focuses its investments on advancing best-in-class ESG norms, with the goal of developing institutionalized high-performing enterprises at the exit.
DPI intends to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals by adopting its own Impact and ESG Management System with its portfolio firms, which is centered on three core impact themes: Job Quality, Climate Change, and Gender Balance.
ADP III was the first African fund to sign the Operating Principles for Impact Management (“Impact Principles”), an international market standard for impact investment, as well as the first to be designated as a 2x Flagship Fund as part of the 2x Challenge, a gender-focused program.
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