Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man who also chairs the Dangote Group, has joined forces with billionaire investors from the United States to support a fresh $500 million fund with a focus on Africa.
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A team that emerged from Carlyle Group Inc. announced that they have secured support from the founders of the U.S. private equity firm, along with Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, for a new fund focused on Africa.
Carlyle co-founders David Rubenstein and Bill Conway are among the investors in the Alterra Capital Partners fund, according to Partner Genevieve Sangudi. The private equity firm’s goal is to raise up to $500 million in the upcoming months, and they have already collected $140 million in their initial closing, she noted.
In contrast to the withdrawal of major investors like Carlyle, Blackstone Inc., and KKR & Co. from the African market, smaller firms are seeing opportunities as startups mushroom to fills gaps on a continent that lacks financial and logistical infrastructure.
Alterra, for instance, intends to channel its investments into sectors such as telecommunications, technology, logistics, healthcare, consumer services, and retail, as highlighted by Sangudi.
“This is an excellent time to put money to work in Africa as many of the current macro themes provide attractive potential investment opportunities,” Sangudi said in an interview. “For example, the power challenges across Africa provide opportunities to invest in private distributed power solutions, while technology continues to drive Africa digital transformation at a rapid pace.”
Alterra’s fund has also attracted investment from notable institutions such as Standard Bank Group Ltd., International Finance Corp., Norfund AS, Germany’s Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft GmbH, and Allianz SE’s AfricaGrow fund, as noted by Sangudi.
Back in mid-2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Carlyle, based in Washington, spun off its $700 million sub-Saharan African fund to its local investment team. This new entity, named Alterra, took over the management of Carlyle’s assets.
Alterra, with its trio of founding partners, including Eric Kump and Bruce Steen, has successfully exited six companies, returning $600 million to investors.
The team has invested around $1 billion in a total of 23 companies across Africa, demonstrating their active and impactful presence in the region’s investment landscape.
