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Washington D.C., September 14, 2015 –
IFC and the IFC African, Latin American, and Caribbean Fund (IFC ALAC Fund) have participated in a new round of growth financing for
Afrimax to accelerate the rollout of its leading edge, LTE led business model, across multiple African markets.
This latest investment round in Afrimax Group is led by Mitsui & Co., Ltd., the Japanese conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, and includes participation from existing shareholders. IFC and the IFC ALAC Fund, a fund managed by the IFC Asset Management Company, contributed $14 million to the round, following earlier combined investments of $19.5 million in 2013.
In November 2014, Vodafone and Afrimax Group jointly announced a non-equity strategic framework agreement to cooperate and explore opportunities for partner market agreements in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Under this framework agreement, Vodafone Uganda was launched in February 2015, combining the deployment of new high speed 4G networks with the use of existing infrastructure for 2G/3G services.
“Our continued support to Afrimax reflects IFC’s long term strategy to increase broadband access in Africa. Sub-Saharan African mobile penetration is around 85% but currently less than 10% of mobile phone users in the region can access the Internet by broadband connection. Afrimax is improving this, giving people access to efficiency gains, business opportunities and greater access to information” said Aniko Szigetvari, Global Head, Telecommunications, Media and Technology for IFC.
Etleva Koka, Principal, IFC ALAC Fund said, “We are pleased to strengthen our partnership with Afrimax as it continues to grow in the region. The company has a strong track record of providing broadband internet services that are very much needed in the Sub-Saharan Africa countries.”
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our capital, expertise, and influence, to create opportunity where it’s needed most. In FY15, our long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly $18 billion, helping the private sector play an essential role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
About IFC Asset Management Company
IFC Asset Management Company LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IFC, invests third-party capital, enabling outside investors to benefit from IFC’s expertise in achieving strong equity returns, as well as positive development impact in the countries in which it invests. It has raised over $8.7 billion of capital across eleven investment funds, including the $1 billion IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund. For more information, visit
http://www.ifcamc.org/
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