DealMakers AFRICA

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced US$605 million in commitments to three projects in Egypt to support economic development across key sectors such as climate finance, sustainable tourism and access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

• IFC, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and British International investment will each invest $100 million in a bond from Arab African International Bank. This is Egypt’s first sustainability bond and the largest issued by a private bank.
• IFC will provide a $155 million loan to Orascom Development (Egypt) to boost green tourism by improving water and energy efficiency at several hotels in El Gouna, along the Red Sea.
• The third project is a $150 million loan to Commercial International Bank to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Egypt.

Paratus Group, the pan-African telecommunications and network services provider, has entered the Kenyan market through a joint venture with Nairobi- based IT and ISP company, MoveOn Telecoms. The JV, launched as Paratus Kenya was created to provide and install Starlink services.

Proparco has partnered with Admaius Capital Partners to support medical education in Senegal through an investment in St. Christopher Iba Mar Diop Medical School, one of the largest private medical training institutions in Francophone Africa.

Kenyan Internet Service Provider (ISP), Mawingu, has raised US$15 million in debt and equity funding to expand its network across East Africa through the acquisition of Tanzanian ISP, Habari. InfraCo Africa and FMO, both existing investors in Mawingu, invested an additional $4 million which enabled the ISP to secure $11 million in long-term senior debt Cygnum Capital’s Africa Go Green Fund.

FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, and ElectriFI, an EU impact investment facility managed by EDFI Management Company, have provided US$9 million in debt funding to Hydrobox, to support eight small hydro projects across four mini-grids in Kenya.

EFG Corp-Solutions, Bank NXT, EG Bank and other lenders are providing Sylndr, an online used car marketplace, with a EGP370 million asset-backed working capital facility. The financing will be used to support its growth strategy and operational efficiency.

Kenya’s STIMA has received an undisclosed investment from early-stage investment firm, Renew Capital. The STIMA all-in-one platform assists e-mobility companies with managing their battery fleets. The software is used by companies in Kenya, Nigeria and Benin.

Tanzania’s largest bank, CRDB Bank has refinanced its syndicated term loan facility, first launched in 2022, for the third time. The facility was established to unlock working capital and support the bank’s lending portfolio for the SME sector in Tanzania and Burundi. This third raise, initially targeted US$100 million but was oversubscribed with total commitments of $247 million. The new $150 million term loan facility is split between a $45 million two-year tranche and a $105 million one-year tranche facilitated by 17 lenders across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the UK.

BluePeak Private Capital has announced a US$15 million sustainability-linked investment in Tunisia’s Sancella, one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of disposable hygiene products in the Maghreb region and Francophone West Africa.

FMO (acting as lead arranger), British International Investment, Proparco, and ILX, announced a working capital facility of up to US$90 million for Robust International, a leading agri-commodity trader headquartered in Singapore. The funds will enable Robust to buy sesame and cashew nuts directly from cooperatives, aggregators and local farmers to support operations at its new processing facilities in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Mozambique which are expected to create over 1,100 direct jobs at the plants which will support up to 600,000 smallholder farmers.

BCME Capital Investments’ Capital Venture Fund is investing 5 million dirhams in Morocco’s PTS (Premium Technology & Service) to accelerate the starup’s development and growth in the digital payments sector.

Kwararafa Africa, along with TY Holdings and Notore Chemical Industries (Mauritius), the core shareholders of NGX-listed Notore Chemical Industries Plc, have offered to buy out the minority shareholders through a scheme of arrangement. Financial terms of the offer are yet to be disclosed.

DealMakers AFRICA is the Continent’s M&A publication
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