CardinalStone Capital Advisers (CCA), a Lagos-based private equity fund manager, has announced the final close of its maiden private equity fund, the CardinalStone Capital Advisers Growth Fund LP at $64 million.
A statement issued by the company on Tuesday said the Fund, which recorded its first close in December 2018 and final close in September 2020, was established to support the growth and institutionalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Nigeria and Ghana.
The company described the CCAGF as a generalist fund that makes equity investments of between $5 million and $10 million in high-growth SMEs operating across a range of sectors, including industrials, agribusiness, consumer goods and services, education, healthcare, and financial services.
It stated that CCAGF investors include Kuramo Capital, the United Kingdom Government’s CDC Group, FMO – the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), and a number of high-net-worth individuals.
The Co-Founder and Managing Director of CCA, Femi Ogunjimi, said, “We are pleased with the successful close of our Fund in the prevailing challenging environment. We are very grateful to all of our Limited Partners for the resounding support shown through the process; their support is an endorsement of our hands-on approach to building SMEs into sector champions.”
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The Fund has invested in two businesses, iFitness Center Limited and AppZone Group Limited, and will invest in another six to seven companies over the next two years.
Commenting on both investments, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of CCA, Yomi Jemibewon, said, “We are excited about our investments in both iFitness and AppZone. The founders of both businesses have ambitions to disrupt and consolidate key segments of their respective industries and have done an amazing job establishing solid foundations that complement CCA’s brand of bold, yet collaborative, investing.
“We look forward to partnering with more like-minded founder/promoter teams towards building businesses with transformational impact across our target markets”.
The company stated that Solomon Wifa, Partner at Willkie Farr (UK) acted as legal adviser, while Trident Trust (Mauritius) will provide administrative services to CCAGF.
