Finance experts to discuss ways of boosting investment in East Africa

Investors from Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania will meet in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, next month, to discuss opportunities for investment in private equity in Africa.

The meeting, from 18 to 19 May 2010, organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat, African Development Bank, African Venture Capital Association and Aureos Capital will bring together representatives from pension funds, insurance companies and other long term investors across East Africa. Regulatory bodies and other stakeholders will also be present.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the biggest growth stories in emerging markets private equity,” said David Ashiagbor, an economic adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Mr Ashiagbor added that fundraising activity by private equity fund managers in Sub-Saharan Africa has almost tripled from US$800 million in 2005 to over US$2.2 billion in 2008, and reached US$1 billion in the first half of 2009.

Martin Poulsen, Chief Private Equity Officer of the African Development Bank, co-sponsor of the meeting, noted that the growth in fundraising has been led by development finance institutions, international commercial banks, pension funds and even private investors.

“Raising funding from African institutional investors companies remains a challenge. This needs to be addressed - and we hope this round table will help to unlock the untapped potential from African investors,” he said.

Specifically, the Nairobi meeting aims to:

- Introduce participants to private equity as an asset class;

- Familiarise participants with the private equity industry in Africa and provide the opportunity to meet with fund managers, investors and other stakeholders;

- Provide participants with an understanding of the structure of private equity funds, their operations and governance.

Confirmed speakers for the meeting include participants from The International Finance Corporation (IFC), Washington DC, CDC Capital Partners, London, South Suez Capital, Johannesburg and, the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA, Washington DC).

Notes to editors: about the organisers

Commonwealth Secretariat is a voluntary intergovernmental association of 54 countries that support each other and work together towards shared goals in democracy and development. The Secretariat supports member countries in improving their investment environment through conducting feasibility and due diligence studies and commissioning research to inform decision making by investors (http://www.thecommonwealth.org/)

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group’s mission is to help reduce poverty, improve living conditions for Africans and mobilize resources for the continent’s economic and social development. With this objective in mind, the institution aims at assisting African countries – individually and collectively - in their efforts to achieve sustainable economic development and social progress (http://www.afdb.org/)

African Venture Capital Association (AVCA) is a not-for-profit entity founded to promote, develop and stimulate private equity and venture capital in Africa. AVCA is committed to promoting high ethical standards of business conduct and professional competence in the private equity and venture capital industries (http://www.avca-africa.org/

Aureos Capital Ltd is a private equity fund management company which specialises in providing expansion and buy-out capital to unlisted small to mid-cap businesses across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Since its establishment in 2001, Aureos has increased its funds under management to over US$1.2 billion and extended its geographical footprint to over 50 emerging markets covering Asia, Africa and Latin America, by establishing 15 regional private equity funds ( http://www.aureos.com/)

Secretariat Links:

• Economic Development
• Country Profile: Kenya