Ecobank signs US$14 million investment agreement with Advanced Finance & Investment Group
Lome, Togo (28 July, 2010) -- Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI) announced today that it has reached an agreement with Advanced Finance & Investment Group (“AFIG”), manager of the Atlantic Coast Regional Fund (“ACRF”), for an ACRF investment of US$14 million in three subsidiaries of ETI. The ETI subsidiaries involved in this transaction are Ecobank Chad, Ecobank Liberia, and Ecobank Rwanda. The subsidiaries will receive investments in the combination of equity and convertible bonds, distributed as follows: US$6 million in Chad, US$4 million in Liberia, and US$4 million in Rwanda.

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Papa Ndiaye shares his vision of how Africa will change the world with the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper
At the dawn of the last century, no one predicted China’s economic prominence today. While taking a different road, Africa will surprise the world with some of the biggest multinational companies by the end of this century. That may be difficult to believe. After roughly 50 years of independence, the continent has a paltry 5 per cent of the world’s GDP, a dismal 3 per cent of world trade and a history of dependence on aid rather than global commerce. But consider this: Nigerian phone subscribers exploded from 400,000 to 70 million in nine years, helping Mobile Television Networks become a global telecom player in the process. It is a dramatic illustration that, historically, Africa’s growth has seldom been gradual but rather in leaps. Africa has the world’s youngest and fastest growing population, a consumer base capable of benefiting from the diminishing costs and simultaneously pervasive benefits of technology. Africa controls the world’s largest stock of precious metals. The above are all buttressed by improved governance and unprecedented liberalization. By the end of this century, the success of African companies will have shifted the debate away from aid as they storm international markets, led by multinational pioneers such as AngloGold Ashanti, Celtel and Ecobank.

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AFIG hosted members of the ONE board and supporters in Dakar on March 9, 2010
AFIG welcomed members of the ONE board, executives of the organization, and supporters during their listening and learning trip to Senegal, Ghana, Mozambique, and Ghana. AFIG and ONE had a fruitful and lively half-day session on private equity and investments in Africa. The message that AFIG imparted to ONE was simple: there are great companies across Africa with huge potential for growth and expansion. With the right capital investment and strategic support from firms like AFIG, they will prosper not only in their national and regional markets, but globally. Advocacy organizations like ONE should be interested in private equity firms like AFIG for two reasons: (1) the most tried and tested route out of poverty is employment, and (2) the sectors firms like AFIG focus on are strategically critical for any country to cut poverty and promote economic development.
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AFIG sponsored the Insurance and Finance Roundtable at the 34th Annual Assembly of FANAF on February 9, 2010
In partnership with the Federation of Insurance Companies of African Law (FANAF), AFIG organized a roundtable on insurance and finance at FANAF’s 34th Annual Assembly held in Kinshasa, Dem. Rep. of Congo from the 7th to the 10th of February 2010. The objective of the roundtable was to explore potential synergies between African insurance and reinsurance companies, on the one hand, and key financial market participants such as private equity funds. Papa Ndiaye and Patrice Backer of AFIG made presentations to the 300+ members of the audience on “Insurance at the Heart of Finance” and “Insurance and Private Equity” respectively. Other invited speakers included Patrick Brochet of Impaxis Capital (Senegal) and Michel Abrogoua of Phoenix Capital (Cote d’Ivoire.)
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First Edition of the African Business Leadership Award– Dakar, Senegal - May 10, 2009
This event was organized by a group of African private institutions led by AFIG and in partnership with the African Development Bank. The objective of the Award is to celebrate the achievements of an individual, a company, or an organization in furthering the advancement of the African private sector. South African businesswoman Mrs. Louisa Madiako Mojela, Managing Director of Women Investment Portfolio Holdings Ltd. (WIPHOLD), was the first recipient of the African Business Leadership Award held on May 10, 2009 during the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank. Mrs. Mojela received her award from Dr. Donald Kaberuka, the President of the African Development Group, who presided over the ceremony.
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CDC to invest USD15m in Advanced Finance Investment Group's fund – 31 May 2009
Source : Heedge

CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, is investing USD15m in Advanced Finance Investment Group’s Atlantic Coast Regional Fund.
AFIG is seeking to raise up to USD150m for the fund, wich will provide private equity funding for growth and expansion companies operating in West and Central Africa.
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ACRF Presentation Ceremony – Dakar, Senegal – 5 December 2008
On December 5, 2008, AFIG organized a presentation of the Atlantic Coast Regional Fund for the Senegalese business community at the Mogador Restaurant in Dakar. Mr. Papa Madiaw Ndiaye, CEO of AFIG, took advantage of the event to present AFIG’s team and investment strategy and to thank the individuals and institutions that supported AFIG through its fundraising period. The Chairman of the AFIG Advisory Board, Mr. Paulo Gomes, was in attendance.
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IFC Private Equity Fund Investment to Support Development of SMEs and Mid-Cap Companies in Francophone Africa – 4 July 2008
Source : www.webwire.com

Washington, D.C., July-IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has committed to invest in the Atlantic Coast Regional Fund, the first private equity fund managed by local professionals with a primary focus on Francophone Africa.
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OPIC PROVIDES $250 MILLION FOR THREE NEW INVESTMENT FUNDS IN AFRICA – 19 November 2007
Source : www.opic.gov

Accra, Ghana – Robert Mosbacher, Jr., president and CEO of the overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), announced today that OPIC would provide up to $250 million in financing to support three new investment funds in Africa, each designed to…
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Corporate South Africa spreads across continent, world, par David J. Lynch USA TODAY – 13 November 2006
Source : USA TODAY

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Ces Cadres africains qui rentrent au pays, par Sixtine Léon-Dufour – 20 October 2006
Source : LE FIGARO

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Ces cadres africains qui retournent au pays, par Jean-Philippe Von Gastrow – 4 August 2006
Source : LES ECHOS

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