African Capital Alliance Invests in Accelerex Holdings
Africa Capital Alliance (“ACA”) today announces its investment in Accelerex Holdings, Mauritius (“Accelerex”), through its Capital Alliance Private Equity IV (CAPE IV) fund. With this investment, CAPE IV will become a strategic partner in Accelerex and will hold three seats on the company’s board.
Accelerex, the parent company of the African fintech powerhouse, Global Accelerex Limited, was set up for investment into digital financial technology companies across Africa. Global Accelerex was incorporated in 2008 and commenced payments services operation in October 2013 upon obtaining approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The company consistently ranked as the Number 1 Payment Terminal Service Provider in Nigeria in 2018 and 2019 and supports 95% of Nigerian banks and over 90,000 merchants across the 36 states in the country.
Accelerex commenced operations in Ghana in 2019 and plans to expand into Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa over the next 24 months with the new investment from ACA. This funding will also drive new product development across the group.
The agency banking arm of Accelerex, Accelerex Network Limited (ANL) is a major driver of financial inclusion in Nigeria. It supports the Federal Government of Nigeria and the CBN’s financial inclusion agenda, targeted at the underserved and unserved segments of the population. Accelerex Network Limited has grown its Agent network to over 9,000 agents within the last 12 months and plans to reach 40,000 agents by the end of 2021.
Paul Kokoricha, Partner at ACA, stated that with the huge potential of Fintechs in Africa, funding should not be an obstacle to scalability. He added that “Accelerex’s strong business model and its agile and dynamic management team makes it the ideal African Fintech group to back. We are thrilled about this alliance and are happy to bring our experience to the board”.
Commenting on the ACA investment, Tunde Ogungbade, CEO of Global Accelerex, said; “I am very excited by the ACA investment. In our quest for the right investment and strategic partner, we were looking for a company that shares our vision to empower businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa to exceed all their customers’ payment expectations. This funding will help Accelerex to aggressively expand into Africa and accelerate product development. I see our vision becoming a reality with this move”.
Accelerex Holdings continuously develops and deploys convenient, secure and innovative financial and non-financial solutions that make life easier.
About ACA and CAPE IV
ACA is a leading pan-African investment firm, sponsoring funds and managing investments in Sub-Saharan Africa. Founded in 1997, ACA has an over 23-year history of investing across multiple market cycles, through five private equity and real estate funds.
Its international structure and strong local expertise enable it to raise funds from investors across the globe for investment in specific sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa.
CAPE IV is a $567m fund established by ACA to invest in companies with strong fundamentals and a growth track record in the financial services; technology, media and telecoms; FMCG; energy and various emerging sectors in West Africa.
ValuAlliance Launches Money Market Fund
ACA through its Asset Management subsidiary, ValuAlliance Asset Management Limited in June 2020, launched the ValuAlliance Money Market Fund (VMMF or Fund). This Fund targets individuals looking for a vehicle to conservatively grow and optimize their savings or seeking a flexible option for cashflow and liquidity management.
VMMF is a SEC registered Collective Investment Scheme, whose primary objective is to provide investors with a steady return on capital, liquidity and capital preservation by investing in a diversified portfolio of high-quality short-term money market instruments which will include short term government securities, unsubordinated short-term debt instruments such as commercial papers, bankers’ acceptances, and fixed deposits.
The Fund, which will be actively managed by experienced investment managers, has an indicative rating of “A-” from Agusto & Co, and is targeted at Individuals and Corporates that desire a safe, stable, liquid and reliable cash management vehicle and an alternative to deposit accounts.
To learn more about the Fund, click here.
ACA announces the sale of Cornerstone Tower
October 7, 2019- African Capital Alliance (“ACA”) today announced the sale of Cornerstone Tower, an A-grade office building in Lagos, to Everty, a strategic investor that focuses on acquisition and development of prime real estate around the world. ACA’s pioneer Real Estate Fund, Capital Alliance Property Investment Company (“CAPIC”) made the investment in partnership with Cornerstone Insurance Plc. and Fin Insurance.
The building, located in Victoria Island, was completed in April 2019 and has 13 floors comprising 24,000m2 of gross building area, and 12,000m2 of gross lettable space, along with features such as raised floors and multi-level parking.
Cornerstone Tower received an IFC Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (“EDGE”) provisional certification as a green building, a recognition given to encourage developers to reduce their buildings’ energy and water consumption by significant percentages, thus lowering their potential carbon footprint.
Everty shared a few comments on the transaction: “We’re pleased to add Cornerstone Tower to our international real estate portfolio. Everty is committed to investing in assets that are at the cutting edge of design and sustainability; and our purchase of Cornerstone Tower is testament to that. Nigeria is increasingly becoming an attractive country for companies to invest in, and buildings such as Cornerstone Tower reflect the ambition and innovation happening across the country.”
Obi Nwogugu, speaking for ACA said, “The sale of Cornerstone Tower, shows that there is a market for properly developed assets that meet high-quality, international specifications. Despite the challenges in Nigeria’s real estate market over recent years, it has become increasingly competitive and sophisticated. Our strategy is to invest in assets in optimal locations and to prepare them for discerning space users. We remain focused on asset differentiation and delivering good returns across our portfolio”.
Mr. Ganiyu Musa, CEO Cornerstone Insurance Plc also expressed delight at the sale, “Our partners met and, in many instances, exceeded our expectations regarding cost, timeliness and quality. We were extremely pleased at the professionalism from conception to exit”.
With this exit, the Cornerstone Tower portfolio investment has delivered a gross USD IRR of 25.6% to CAPIC’s investors.
About ACA and CAPIC African Capital Alliance (ACA) is a leading pan-African investment firm sponsoring funds and managing investments in Sub-Saharan Africa. Capital Alliance Property Investment Company, L.P. (“CAPIC”) is a $165m fund established to invest in real estate and real estate related opportunities in West Africa. The fund invests in residential, retail, office and hospitality assets. The firm is also in the process of launching CAREN II, which is an income and growth product.
ACA exits Wakanow
December 21, 2018, Lagos, Nigeria – ACA is happy to announce the exit from the CAPE III investment in Wakanow. Wakanow is the leading Online Travel Agency (OTA) in West Africa. The Company utilized the CAPE III investment to grow 3 fold during the four year holding period. The Company will now be embarking on a further expansion to become the leading OTA in Africa and CAPE III exited as part of the transaction to fund this additional growth. ACA wishes the company and the management success in the new expansion.
ACA and ELALAN group begin development of Blue Water project
December 17, 2018, Lagos, Nigeria – Blue Water Lagos, also termed the “Ultimate Lifestyle Community” is a contemporary mixed-use development that sits on a 37,000 square meters expanse of sea view land, crafted beautifully with quality and comfort embedded in its design.
Located in the heart of Lekki Phase 1, Blue Water Lagos is made up of 5 residential buildings, blended with commercial spaces, modern conveniences and exciting development features. Its top-notch amenities include leisure, entertainment and recreational facilities that encourage social interaction and passive recreation, and the commercial spaces offer top brands the opportunity to provide quality services for the residents.
It is been developed by Elalan Group and African Capital Alliance, and master planned/designed by Ngonyama Okpanum & Associates. The project is on schedule with completion due by the end of December 2019.