Table of Contents:

Bridge to Africa

Mauritius sees itself as an African PE platform.

BALACLAVA, Mauritius (Reuters) - Mauritius plans to become a financial platform for private equity providers eying investment opportunities in Africa, the Indian Ocean nation’s finance minister said on Monday. Ramakrishna Sithanen said Mauritius’ reputation as one of the continent’s most stable and consistently high-performing economies made it an attractive option for investors.  The palm-fringed island’s offshore services sector has boomed in recent years as the country markets itself as a bridge between the Africa, India and Asia. “Our plan is to carve out a own niche in the multi-billion dollar private equity industry,” Sithanen said at the launch of a private equity conference.   Far from its key export markets, the island nation of 1.3 million people packs an economic punch well above its weight. Once founded on sugar but now diversified into textiles, tourism, ITC and offshore banking read more from peHUB here

VC in Africa

funding opportunities in countries like Nigeria and South Africa.

Lalude’s new firm is called Adlevo Capital, and he splits his time between Lagos and Johannesburg. It has not yet held a close on its $75 million-targeted first fund, but expects to do so in either Q2 or Q3. An anchor investor – whose name Lalude did not disclose – has already committed capital to fund interim deals. For example, Adlevo expects to have its first term sheet signed within the next few days, for a telecom services company.

“Our strategy is looking at infrastructure plays that have tech-enabled business models,” says Lalude, who still serves on one of his old GGVC boards. “This isn’t the same early-stage, early-stage tech investing model that you see in Silicon Valley or Boston. It just doesn’t work as well here, as we saw when some people tried in South Africa… Every now and then you might get a great deal, but the most promising companies here are ones that focus on expanding the accessibility of existing technologies – not those coming up with new cutting-edge technologies.”

Lalude did not identify other members of his team, except to say that his two partners have strong operating and financial experience. He also plans to add two or three associates over the next year.

source:  http://www.pehub.com/wordpress/?p=2212