Aliko Dangote and Carlyle Founders Invest in Upcoming African PE Fund

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote and Carlyle co-founders David Rubenstein and Bill Conway have been named as investors in a new Africa-focused fund.

This comes as Partner Genevieve Sangudi said the private equity firm plans to raise as much as $500 million in the coming months and has garnered $140 million in its first closing.

This is not Dangote’s first partnership with the Carlyle founders. In 2014, Dangote partnered with Blackstone Group to invest $5 billion over the period of 5 years in energy infrastructure projects across Africa.

The deal had a special bias on power, transmission and pipeline projects. 

Dangote and Carlyle Group: What you need to know

Carlyle Group announced in 2014 that it is entering into a strategic investment partnership with Dangote Industries through its vehicles Carlyle International Energy Partners LP and Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund LP. 

The partnership entails investment across the oil & gas value chain as well as in financial services, consumer and agribusiness sectors – building blocks of the African economy.

Carlyle Co-CEO David M. Rubenstein said, “We are proud and excited to deepen our relationship with Dangote Industries, an anchor investor in our Sub-Saharan fund. Aliko Dangote, President and CEO of DIL, is a pioneer in the African business community, with the depth of vision and commitment that will better enable Carlyle to find and create choice investment opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa and contribute to economic development on the continent.”

The investment deals came immediately after the 2014 U.S.-Africa Business Forum which took place in Washington.

Carlyle Group: What to know

With $376 billion of assets under management, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of investors.

The group has invested over $300 million across a variety of industries and countries, including J&J Africa, a logistics business in Mozambique; Diamond Bank, a Nigerian Tier II Bank; Tiger Automotive (TiAuto), a leading tyre retailer and wholesaler in South Africa; and Traxys Group, a physical metals and minerals commodity merchant, logistics and trading firm with Africa presence.