Kenya-based private equity manager, Ascent Capital, has raised more than $100 million in a second fund, it said on Tuesday, to invest in small and medium enterprises in East Africa.
Ascent, which was among several new private equity firms established in the past decade to take advantage of growing popularity of the asset class in the region, raised $80 million in its first round in 2015.
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The second fund will target growing firms in the financial services, manufacturing, trade, education and health sectors across the region, Ascent said in a statement.
The first deal was concluded in January this year, it said.
Backers of the new fund include Britain’s CDC, Dutch development financier FMO and the International Finance Corporation, Ascent said.
Investors in ARVF II include leading Africa investors such as Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, the UK’s development finance institution CDC Group, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Norwegian investment fund Norfund, and Proparco, a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
“We are proud to have raised this additional capital from prominent investors to invest in Africa’s most promising companies,” said David Owino, founding partner of Ascent. “We are now well positioned to become the leading SME fund manager in East Africa, empowering ambitious entrepreneurs with capital and knowledge from our local advisory teams.”
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