MENA SPECIAL OVERVIEW Shining a light The region’s powerful demographic trends A MENA STREAK mean investing there is Regional private equity fundraising no stab in the dark. $bn No Adam Koppeser reports More than six years after the Arab Spring, 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 YTD the Middle East and North Africa region 2017 has yet to solve its image problem. Capital raised The picture reaching international Number of funds closed investors through the media is difficult to Source: Private Equity International avoid. From Syria’s sixth year of civil war and ongoing refugee crisis, to conflicts in Iraq, Yemen and Libya, it’s small wonder the International region can cause jitters. OIL AND SUNDRY Elsewhere, low oil prices are forcing Investment by ICB† Industry, 2016-Q1 2017 Gulf countries to take austerity measures, mostly through spending cuts that are Number of deals 8% likely to dampen their economies’ non- 8% oil sectors. 6% 5% The private equity space has also seen 5% 44% 19% 5% headwinds. According to PEI data, total cap- ital raised dipped 17.7 percent year-on-year Capital invested to $3.9 billion in 2016. Deals fell, too, by 16 Equity 1% percent year-on-year, the Emerging Market 1% 0.02% Private Equity Association reported. 0.8% 1.7% Even so, perennial big players such as 11% 73%11% The Abraaj Group stayed active through 2016; the firm staged its second North Consumer services Healthcare African healthcare IPO in June and closed Industrials Utilities its first Turkey-focused fund on $526 mil- Technology Oil and gas Consumer goods Other lion, despite a mid-year coup attempt. However, raising this kind of capital is Note: The Industry Classification Benchmark no small feat; other GPs may have more LP (‘ICB’) is owned by FTSE International Limited scepticism to contend with. Hani Rama- (‘FTSE’). ‘FTSE®’ is a trademark of the London Private Stock Exchange Group companies and is used dan, head of private equity for Waha Capi- by FTSE under license. FTSE does not accept any liability to any person for any loss or damage tal Partners, has been on the trail for the arising out of any error or omission in the ICB. Abu Dhabi-based firm’s debut third-party fund, and says he deals overwhelmingly with Source: EMPEA. Data as of 31 March 2017 regionally based LPs. 24 private equity international june 2017 MENA SPECIAL “I’ve had some discussions with develop- early days of the Middle East’s private equity ment organisations from Europe, and some industry. FUNDS IN THE SUN sovereign wealth funds in Singapore and “In Dubai there’s a lot of excitement Largest MENA funds achieving a close Malaysia, but being a first-time fund, it’s about the venture capital industry and IT 2016-Q1 2017 a much easier proposition to raise funds specifically; a lot of retail shops and restau- $251m from the Gulf. Most of the commitments rant chains get started that way. Deals are Gulf Capital we’ve gotten have been from Saudi Arabia,” very much consumer-oriented, as well as GC Credit Opportunities Fund II he says. financial services, healthcare and education. “International investors are more com- Those are the most sought-after type of fortable investing in an emerging market investments.” when it’s a second-time fund. People are Ramadan’s team at Waha is looking at $162m nervous about the region, and some inter- healthcare and consumer investments in IFC Asset Management Company national LPs have invested in some of the Egypt and Morocco. IFC Middle East and North regional funds without seeing decent According to the latest Spotlight on North Africa Fund* returns for the risks they’re taking.” Africa Private Equity compiled by the Africa Helmut Schuehsler, chief executive of Private Equity and Venture Capital Associa- $150m TVM Healthcare Partners, agrees that the tion, 139 deals were reported from 2010 The EuroMena Funds International EuroMena III region has an image problem. to the first half of 2016, with Morocco and “Nobody has a strategy for the Middle Egypt attracting the most and second-most East, so many investors don’t even know investment interest, respectively. who to talk to. It always seems to fall $110m Actis has been a major player in North NBK Capital Partners between the cracks because it’s not really Africa, attracted largely by opportunities NBK Capital Partners Mezzanine Fund II* Asia, it’s not really Africa and it’s very small.” in consumer goods, education and health- For Schuehsler, convincing LPs to invest care. According to Hossam Abou Moussa, a involves showing that the Gulf Co-operation partner in its Cairo office, these sectors are $100m Five Capital Advisors Council countries in which TVM operates fuelled by a large young population with a Five Capital Fund I* Equityoffer a stable, fast-growing environment for connection to the developed world, grow- healthcare deals. ing brand awareness and demand for con- “I think people overlook the fact that sistency and quality in products. $70m Ezdehar Management the GCC countries have a very different “That story is there in Egypt, it’s there Ezdehar Egypt Mid-Cap strategy to grow their economies; it’s an in other North African countries, and it Fund* investment-led strategy, so they’re putting will not go away with political crises or any $60m money into infrastructure and education, change in the geopolitical environment,” Catalyst Private Equity Catalyst MENA Clean and of course, healthcare.” he says. Energy Fund* “Behind the story, the winners will be DEALS AND DIRHAMS well-run market leaders. This has been our $40m Algebra Ventures Annual deal volume in the MENA region strategy: going after market leaders in sec- PrivateAlgebra Ventures Fund I* has historically been relatively low, surpass- tors we understand, with businesses that ing 75 only once in the past decade, accord- benefit from these trends – and if there’s $10m Ibtikar Fund ing to PitchBook. no market leader to go after, we try to build Ibtikar Fund The deals that are being done gravitate one through a buy-and-build process.” Source: EMPEA *Still fundraising as of 31 March 2017 heavily toward growth capital, says Schu- Actis took this approach in the payment ehsler, an evolution from the buyout-heavy space, acquiring companies in Egypt, ›› june 2017 private equity international 25 MENA SPECIAL ›› Jordan and South Africa to create Ameco Medical Industries, a medical Emerging Market Payments, which grew device manufacturer that makes a range to have the largest footprint in Africa before of catheters. These products were already being sold to a global strategic buyer in manufactured at a low cost, so the devalu- March 2016. ation of the pound made them extremely Another sector of emerging interest in competitive, says Schuehsler. North Africa, given demographic trends, “When we made the investment in late is education. The firm is currently invest- 2014, we expected a devaluation. Our cal- ing in universities to build a pan-African culus was: if it happens, our revenues for education platform. the company – about half of which were in “Tunisia and Morocco attract students Egypt – would go down, but only in Egypt. from across francophone Africa because If we reduce our manufacturing costs by the best institutions there can offer a great a big margin, our exports to the US and Investors in education, aligned with what employers in Europe – which we wanted to drive with general don’t the region demand from graduates,” says our investments – would make this a very like risk, and the Abou Moussa. “It’s also significantly cheaper profitable company.” and easier to apply to than alternatives in For Abou Moussa, the devaluationInternational has best definition of risk is Europe or further afield.” removed one of the biggest uncertainties uncertainty impacting Egypt and North Africa in recent Hossam Abou Moussa KNOWN UNKNOWNS years. “Investors in general don’t like risk, and the “There is greater visibility in the best definition of risk is uncertainty,” says exchange rate, and so businesses can make own traditionally public-driven healthcare Abou Moussa. “If we have better under- plans – how they will buy raw materials, sector. standing of the market and the sector, we how they will buy a new production line – “There’s budget for healthcare being cut can define the uncertainty, and have a better and they can price their product.” left and right, and we see a preparedness to evaluation of the risk.” The government in Egypt is also consider that the public sector should actu- One persistent risk Actis had difficultyEquity addressing its budget deficit through heavy ally reduce its involvement in healthcare as assessing, he says, was Egypt’s currency. The public spending cuts, creating room for an owner and provider, and become more Egyptian pound had been propped up for the private sector, says Noaman Khalid, of a buyer.” years by the country’s central bank, even as a an economist at CI Capital Asset Manage- While Egypt’s devaluation and the Gulf’s black market developed that diverged from ment in Cairo. cutback on public spending have hit some the official rate. In November, however, to “A clear example of this is healthcare. To sectors in the short term, there are long- meet the IMF’s conditions for a $12 billion level up our healthcare service per capita, term benefits. The World Bank expects loan, Egypt allowed its currency to float we need to increase the aggregate spending regional growth to improve slightly to 3.2 freely – and it quickly lost half its value. on healthcare by around 200 billion Egyp- percent in 2017 and 3.6 percent the follow- Schuehsler says the sudden devaluation tian pounds.