African Private Equity Funds raise $700mn in first four months of 2018

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Research provider Preqin indicated that 388 private equity (PE) funds raised a total of $114.6bn to invest in emerging markets (EMs) in 2017, compared to 639 EM-focused PE funds that raised $105.3bn in 2016. The aggregate capital raised in 2017 by EM-focused PE funds represented the second highest level since 2008. Also, the number of PE funds with a primary focus on EMs accounted for 32% of total PE funds, while the aggregate capital raised by EM-focused funds constituted 23% of private equity fundraising worldwide last year.

On a regional basis, it noted that PE  funds  with  a  primary  focus  on  Emerging  Asia  secured $101.5bn in 2017, or 88.6% of total capital raised, followed by funds targeting Central & Eastern Europe with $5.3bn (4.6%), diversified EM funds or funds that divide their investments into 20 or more EMs with $4.4bn (3.8%), funds with a primary focus on Latin America with $2.6bn (2.2%), PE funds targeting Africa with $0.7bn (0.6%) and funds with a primary focus on the Middle East with $100m (0.1%). In parallel, Preqin indicated that 49 EM-focused PE funds raised a total of $8.3bn in the first four months of Further, the survey pointed out that there are 970 EM-focused PE funds seeking to raise an aggregate of $338bn in capital as at April 2018.