DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS International (DPI), a premier investment firm focused on Africa, has announced that African Development Partners III Fund (ADP III) has exceeded its $800 million target, and is set to hold a final close at $900 million, with an additional $250 million of dedicated co-investment capital.
This brings a total of $1.15 billion for investments on the continent.
The fundraising establishes ADP III as one of the largest funds dedicated to investing global capital in Africa.
ADP III will invest in established and growing companies in industries that benefit from Africa’s fast-growing middle class and the increasing digital transformation of the continent. All investments have the highest standards of impact and environmental, social and governance (ESG) work. In doing this work DPI is using its proprietary DPI Management System (DPIMS) toolkit to deliver impact in line with 10 of the UN Sustainable Development goals, as well as driving the highest standards of ESG.
Runa Alam, co-founder and Chief Executive of DPI commented: “Africa remains an exciting investment destination with positive demographics, rising adoption of technology, and rising consumer and business spending. Against this backdrop, DPI has continued to generate top quartile returns by leveraging our team’s deep-rooted local expertise across the African continent.”
ADP III secured capital from a broad range of leading pension and sovereign wealth funds, development finance institutions, endowment and foundations, insurance companies, fund-of-funds, asset managers, and impact investors.
The global investor base represents 20 countries across North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In addition to strong support from existing investors, DPI welcomed over 25 new LPs into its investor base. This is testament to DPI’s track record and ability to create institutional-grade investment opportunities in Africa, while continuing to deliver sustained environmental and economic impact.
Joanne Yoo, Managing Director at DPI, said, “The strong support for ADPIII validates our strategic focus, creative approach and investment discipline. We are grateful for the trust that our investors have placed in DPI, and we are confident that our talented team will continue to deliver competitive returns and impact.”
ADP III has made four investments to date, including Channel VAS, a leading global fintech business providing mobile financial services; SICAM, a leading Tunisian tomato producer, in one of the largest private equity transactions undertaken in the country; Kelix Bio, a biopharmaceutical platform broadening access to speciality generic drugs across Africa; and MNT-Halan, Egypt’s leading fintech ecosystem.
Additionally, DPI has a significant pipeline of investment opportunities across the continent, focused on key sectors of the economy such as financial services, healthcare, agri-business, education, and telecom infrastructure.