Helios Investment Partners reported to have plans for $1.25bn Pan-Africa Fund

London-based Helios Investment Partners is said to have plans to raise a $1.25-billion fund aimed at investments in Africa, US business publication Bloomberg has reported.

In an article on Tuesday (28 May) Bloomberg, citing undisclosed sources in the know, reported that the venture capital (VC) and private equity investment firm is in discussions with asset managers and development agencies about launching the fund.

Ventureburn today (30 May) sought comment on more details of the fund, however a spokesperson representing the firm, FTI Consulting’s Jessica Gill, said Helios “cannot comment” on anything relating to fundraising.

Helios Investment Partners was founded in 2004 by Babatunde Soyoye and Temitope Lawani

The firm, which is said to manage about $3.6-billion, was founded in 2004 by managing partners Babatunde Soyoye and Temitope Lawani.

In 2015, Helios raised a $1.1-billion fund aimed at investments on the continent (see this story). The firm’s core investment sectors range from telecoms, energy, financial services to retail.

Helio’s portfolio includes Dutch-based Zola Electric (formerly Off Grid Electric) which has operations in East and West Africa and telecoms company Helios Towers.

Helios Towers last month announced the closing of its first deal in South Africa with Vulatel which resulted in the creation of telecoms infrastructure platform, Helios Towers SA.

Read more: Africa gets its first billion dollar equity fund, courtesy of Helios
Read more: More private equity firms to participate in later stage million-dollar VC deals

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