Finnfund invests in ADP III to foster growth and development of African businesses

Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and impact investor, today announce a USD26 million commitment to African Development Partners III (ADP III), a pan-African private equity fund aiming to foster the growth and development of African consumer focused businesses across the continent.

Contributing to the value creation within its investees, ADP III aims to support established and growing consumer focused businesses to improve their processes and expand regionally across Africa. The fund provides companies with growth capital and know-how aiming to contribute to job creation, climate change mitigation, and gender balance. In addition, the fund will bring liquidity to developing markets, helping African businesses to recover from the economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.

The fund is advised by Development Partners International (DPI), a private equity firm with a USD 1.1 billion portfolio that has invested in 20 portfolio companies across its two former funds: ADP I and ADP II. DPI has approximately 40 members of staff, of which 45% are women, and its investment team is of African origin.

ADP III is aiming to invest USD 40-120 million in 8–14 companies in different sectors. So far, the fund has made three investments in three sectors: in microfinance and fintech, food processing, and pharmaceuticals.

“We are very pleased to announce our commitment to ADP III, as it fits well to Finnfund’s strategy as a development financier and impact investor. Through this investment, we aim to foster growth and development of African businesses currently facing the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. We are particularly happy about the fund’s strong hands-on approach and its commitment to foster gender balance, equality and diversity in its portfolio companies, as well as within its own team,” said Riikka Molander, Associate Director at Finnfund.

ADP III is the first 2X Gender Flagship Fund globally. The status was awarded on the fund’s commitment to promoting internal gender diversity within the fund itself and investing with a gender lens using the 2X criteria. 2X Challenge is an international gender lens investing initiative that aims to increase access to finance for women-owned, women-led and women-supporting enterprises in developing and emerging countries. Its first target to mobilise USD 3 billion globally by the end of 2020 was exceeded by 1.5 billion, and a new target will be launched in June. Finnfund has been a member of 2X Challenge since 2019.

More information
Riikka Molander, Associate Director & Head of Funds, riikka.molander@finnfund.fi, tel. +358 50 369 4039
Kirsi Pere, Communications Manager, kirsi.pere@finnfund.fi, +358 40 620 9767 (media contacts)

About Finnfund
Finnfund is a Finnish development financier and professional impact investor. We build a sustainable world by investing in responsible and profitable businesses in developing countries. Each year we invest €200–250 million in 20–30 projects, emphasising renewable energy, sustainable forestry, sustainable agriculture and financial institutions. Today Finnfund’s investments and commitments total about €957 million, half of them in Africa. The company has about 90 employees. For more information, please visit www.finnfund.fi