The ACA Story
Delivering value to African businesses.
African Capital Alliance (ACA) is a market pioneer and leading African-focused investment firm with subsidiaries and branches currently in Mauritius, Ghana, and Nigeria.
The ACA Story
African Capital Alliance (ACA) is a market pioneer and leading African-focused investment firm with subsidiaries and branches currently in Mauritius, Ghana, and Nigeria.
To be recognized as the best-in-class diversified investment management firm in Africa, delivering superior returns, guided by our core values of trust and integrity. We seek to create life-changing wealth and long-term value for all our stakeholders.
To mobilize capital, managerial expertise and technology to create a modern African economy; reshaping the continent’s agenda by unlocking its private sector potential.
Humility | Excellence | Integrity | Discipline | Contribution
Our founders recognized private equity’s potential to catalyse inclusive economic growth across Africa by providing capital and management support to unlock private sector potential.
At incorporation in 1997, African Capital Alliance was the first private equity firm in Nigeria. Now in its third decade, ACA is a leading pan-African investment firm sponsoring funds and managing portfolios across sub-Saharan Africa.
ACA was initially led by Okey Enelamah and Dick Kramer. Okey served as CEO from inception till 2015 while Dick served as Chairman till retirement in 2018. Dick had come to Nigeria in 1978 to launch Arthur Andersen & Co. which he grew into one of the respected audit and consulting firms in the country. ACA’s current leadership team is profiled here.
ACA’s investments span private equity, real estate and investment management services. In 1998, ACA raised $35 million for Nigeria’s first private equity fund– Capital Alliance Private Equity I (CAPE I). Distributions from this fund ranked in the top decile of comparative vintage funds in the same period of time. The firm has now raised four generalist private equity funds, CAPE I – IV.
In 2012, ACA received the large cap Landmark Deal Award of the Decade from Private Equity Africa in respect of CAPE III’s investment in Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. Real estate holdings are managed in a separate real estate fund – Capital Alliance Property Investment Company (CAPIC). ValuAlliance Asset Management Limited, our investment management subsidiary manages mutual funds and provides investment management and advisory services to institutional and retail clients.
Our investment activities are centered around sectors poised to benefit from Africa’s rapidly growing consumer driven demand. While the first fund was invested in three sectors, ACA’s funds are now invested in seven sectors . Though ACA’s initial focus was West Africa, it has broadened its geographic footprint to sub-Saharan Africa.
ACA has been delivering strong results since inception. At the heart of our success are the excellent relationships we nurture with investors and portfolio companies as well as our commitment to global best practices.
ACA has enjoyed the consistent support of a valued investor base. Many of the investors in our first fund have continued to invest in subsequent funds, their trust justified by the consistent positive returns on investment.
Steady interest from global investors seeking strategic opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa and a committed team ensure that we continue providing much needed capital and management support to portfolio companies across Africa.
Our goal is to assist the businesses we invest in become sector leaders. So, we invest:
– in opportunities that we understand,
– in assets in which we would be prepared to invest our proprietary funds and
– where we can add real value while mitigating associated risks.
We work with managers that we trust, who have a proven track record of consistent performance and the capacity to steer a business through difficult periods. Our team’s strong local operating expertise means they understand the nuances of the environment. The value addition we offer portfolio companies is therefore relevant and contextual. The Harvard Business School has memorialised one of our deals; Union Bank, in a case study that form part of the readings in its Private Equity curriculum.
Highlights of ACA’s work with portfolio companies is available here.
As a pioneer, ACA has been in the vanguard for the creation and expansion of the private equity ecosystem in Nigeria. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) licensed the first domestic private equity fund when it registered ACA’s Nigerian subsidiary in 2011.
We championed the inclusion of private equity as an allowable investment class for Nigerian pension funds. ACA led the establishment of a local network of private equity and venture capital fund managers in Nigeria – the Private Equity and Venture Capital Association which we continue to support. As a founding member of the Impact Investors Foundation (IIF), ACA has enabled access to practical content on emerging trends and innovations in impact investing and supported the development of the ecosystem. With ACA’s leadership and support, IIF has organized two Impact Investing conferences in Nigeria, reaching over 500 stakeholders from diverse sectors.
ACA continues to fulfil its role as a torchbearer, providing leadership, and funding initiatives that advance the private equity industry.