DLA Piper advises SPE Capital on its USD258 million North Africa-focused fund

DLA Piper has advised SPE Capital, an independent private equity firm with offices in Africa, on structuring and implementing SPE AIF I, its latest Africa-focused fund. SPE AIF I was oversubscribed and closed at USD258 million, above its initial target of USD200 million. The fund received multi-million dollar investment commitments from a diverse group of institutional investors, including AfDB, BPI France, CDC UK, DEG, DFC, EBRD, EIB, IFC, IsDB, OBVIAM and SIFEM, Proparco and Sango Capital.

SPE AIF I was launched in 2019 to invest in high-growth companies across the continent, with a particular focus on North Africa. The fund’s strategy involves taking majority stakes in companies operating in sectors such as industrial goods, services, healthcare and education. To date, the fund has invested in four companies in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco.

Over the course of a fundraising cycle that lasted more than two years, DLA Piper worked closely with SPE Capital’s team — led by Nabil Triki, Edouard Pontet, Mehdi Charfi, Hela Hariz and Stéphane Heuzé — together with expert legal, tax and Shariah-compliance advisers in Mauritius, Tunisia and the UAE to identify innovative solutions that are adapted to the needs of the fund’s investors and other stakeholders.

Edouard Pontet, Managing Partner and COO at SPE Capital, commented: “We are very grateful to our investors and their support in these challenging times is a clear token of trust to SPE Capital and our team. We have been advised in a very professional manner by DLA Piper and would like to extend our special thanks to Benjamin and Ngowari for their relentless support and systematic problem solving approach.”

DLA Piper’s Corporate partner Benjamin Aller, who led the team advising SPE Capital, said: “We are delighted to have worked with SPE Capital in structuring and achieving financial close on their flagship Africa-focused fund. Together we overcame numerous challenges, including the need to ensure that the fund could pursue its investment objectives in strict compliance with private equity best practice principles and world-class ESG standards. We now look forward to supporting SPE Capital as it commits much needed capital and value-creation expertise to private companies in North Africa and beyond.”

The DLA Piper Corporate Funds team in Paris was led by partner Benjamin Aller, with support from senior associate Ngowari Adikibi.