DPI closes Fund II on $725m

Development Partners International, a pan-African firm, has closed its second fund on $725 million, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The fund, which was targeting $500 million and came to market in 2013, held a $250 million first close in September 2013.

Among the LPs in the fund are the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Missouri State Employee's Retirement System.

Park Hill Group supported DPI with the fundraising. Both Park Hill and DPI declined to comment.

DPI’s second fund is larger than the firm’s debut fund, African Development Partners I, a $400 million 2008-vintage.

The vehicle will target investments in private sector businesses in Africa that have the potential to grow into regional or pan-African businesses. The fund aims to produce net equity returns of 20 percent to 25 percent per annum, according to a memo on the IFC website.

DPI has already made three investments using capital from its latest fund. It has invested in Université Privée de Marrakech, a private university, in RTT, a privately-owned parcel distribution company, and in HomeChoice, a home-shopping and credit retail business.

London-headquartered DPI, which was founded in 2007, invests across Africa. The firm was set up by Miles Morland and Runa Alam. Prior to DPI, Morland was non-executive chairman of Blakeney Management, an investment firm that Morland set up in 1990. Before Blakeney, Morland spent 22 years in money management and investment banking in London and on Wall Street. Alam has nearly 30 years of investment banking experience. Prior to co-founding DPI, she was chief executive officer of KZAM, a joint venture between Zephyr Management of New York and Kingdom Holding Company.

DPI joins a number of GPs that are collecting capital for African investments or have recently done so. In January, Helios Investment Partners, a pan-African private equity firm, closed its third fund on $1.1 billion. Meanwhile, African Capital Alliance is currently in market attempting to raise $600 million, PEI reported earlier, while Verod Capital, a Nigerian-based firm is aiming to collect $100 million for its latest fund. The vehicle is on track to close above target at the end of Q2, PEI reported previously.