Africa-Focused Credit Fund, BluePeak, Hits The First Close Of Its Maiden $200 million Credit Fund
Africa-focussed alternative asset management firm BluePeak Private Capital has hit the first close of its maiden $200 million credit fund, a person directly aware of the development told The Capital Quest.
BluePeak, headquartered in the Tunisian capital of Tunis, made the first close in May at just over $100 million, the person said, asking not to be named as the development hasn’t been formally announced.
First close is a fundraising milestone after which alternative investment firms start deploying the capital.
BluePeak joins at least two other alternative investment firms in raising a credit fund for Africa. Vantage Capital’s Africa mezzanine fund marked its first close this week while Cape Town-based private investment firm Greenpoint Capital is in the market to raise $100 million for a new special situations credit fund.
The person cited above said the fund has tapped the Tunisian sovereign wealth fund, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and three development financial institutions (DFIs) as limited partners. The DFIs are the Dutch development bank FMO, CDC Group Plc of the UK, and the US International Development Finance Corp (DFC).
The five backers have invested “different amounts” in the fund, the person said, without elaborating.
However, The Capital Quest has separately learnt that DFC and EIB are bringing $30 million each while FMO is investing $15 million. CDC and the Tunisian wealth fund likely contributed the remaining $25 million.
BluePeak has another 12 months to hit its final close at $200 million. The investment firm is likely to raise another $50 million by the end of 2021 and the remainder by June 2022, the person cited above said.
He said that apart from the five LPs that have backed it, BluePeak is likely to raise money from a few others including the African Development Bank and other regional and international DFIs and family offices in Africa.
BluePeak was set up in 2019 by three former Gulf Capital executives—Walid Cherif, Adam Hadidi and Rami Matar. It will provide African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with bespoke debt financing—a model in which the lender works actively with the borrowers to ascertain the best way their credit could help the latter grow their business.
BluePeak currently has offices in Tunis, the Nigerian capital Lagos and in London. It will soon open a new office in Nairobi, Kenya, this person said.
The person cited above said that BluePeak has been evaluating 17 companies across north, west and east Africa, and will likely deploy 35-40% of the money raised so far, by the end of the calendar year.