Private Equity

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Jacqueline Novogratz’s impact investing group closed an almost $70 million fund to back companies delivering affordable and renewable energy to mostly poor consumers in East Africa. KawiSafi Ventures seeks to bring clean energy to 10 million people with investments in fast-growing companies while also making competitive returns, according to a statement Tuesday from Acumen, a New York-based nonprofit founded by Novogratz. Early investors in the fund include TED curator Chris…

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Privinvest Group began arbitration against three state-owned Mozambican companies to seek at least $200 million in compensation for losses the shipbuilder says it incurred after contractual breaches. The legal action marks a step change in Privinvest’s response to charges against employees including salesman Jean Boustani by the U.S. Department of Justice. It also signals a counter-strike against the southeast African nation that took it to court in London in February….

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Glencore Plc’s Democratic Republic of Congo unit will restart some cobalt exports after it halted sales last year due to low levels of radioactivity. About 23 percent — or 930 tons — of the cobalt produced at Katanga Mining Ltd.’s Kamoto mine since January complies with regulations on uranium content, the company said in a statement. Katanga is controlled by Glencore and owns 75 percent of Kamoto. The unit halted sales…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Brimstone Investment Corp. will exit a deal led by an Israeli company to buy South Africa’s biggest dairy producer after protests by a pro-Palestinian activist group. The investment-holding firm is in “advanced talks” with a replacement shareholder that could see it exiting its entire shareholding in Milco SA — the entity that has offered 4.8 billion-rand ($343 million) deal to buy Clover Industries Ltd. — by the end of the year, it said…

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Police have questioned several Vodacom Tanzania Ltd. employees, including Managing Director Hisham Hendi, over alleged fraudulent use of network facilities, the company said. “No formal charges have been preferred against these employees, but we have been advised that they may appear in court today,” the company said in an emailed statement. Hendi was named head of the Vodacom Group Ltd. unit in March after months of leading the…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. is expected to receive final approvals to complete the sale of its milk-formula business within weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, after delays to the deal wiped out more than 30 percent of the South African drugmaker’s market value. New Zealand authorities have indicated that the disposal to French dairy company Lactalis International could be approved this month, said the people, who asked not…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Senior managers at Dimension Data are considering a buyout of some of the South African IT services company’s operations from its owner, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., according to people familiar with the matter. The executives are approaching lenders and investors to raise cash for a possible deal for Dimension’s Africa and Middle East operations, which could be valued at about $800 million, said the people, asking not to be…