Convergence Partners on track with $500m fund
Convergence Partners says it is on track to reach the first close of a Communications Infrastructure Fund at a level of around US$120 million in the coming weeks.
This is part of the group’s $500 million African fund to invest in information and communication technology, announced in June with an initial $35 million equity investment by the International Finance Corp (IFC), a unit of the World Bank.
Idan Segal, CIO and founding partner of Convergence Partners said: “After the first closing, we will be resuming our interactions with potential further investors, with the intention of significantly increasing our investor commitments, to meet our substantial pipeline opportunities.”
“In the interim, we have continued to invest, develop the pipeline, and bolster our team. We expect to be able to make some new investment announcements in this regard in Q1 2013,” he said.
The first close of an initial $120-$130 million of the Convergence Partners Communications Infrastructure Fund was expected within two months of being announced, according to Andile Ngcaba, chairman of the investment group.
Ngcaba told Reuters that most of the investment would be in companies working on next-generation infrastructure projects to provide high-volume data services.
“The nature of M&A activity we see is quite dynamic. One does not even see a 10-year horizon in some of them, to be honest with you,” Ngcaba said.
Convergence Partners is an investment management and advisory firm, focused on the telecommunications, media and technology sector in emerging markets, with a principal focus on Africa.
The group is invested in telecoms and technology groups in South Africa including Vodacom, Seacom, FibreCo, and Internet Solutions.
Earlier this month (November), a consortium of South African investors led by Convergence Partners, and comprising Altirah Telecoms and the Convergence Partners Foundation, disposed of its 25.1% interest in the New Dawn joint venture to Intelsat S.A, its joint venture partner and the majority shareholder of New Dawn.
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