{"id":643017,"date":"2013-02-19T07:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pehub.com\/?p=186975"},"modified":"2013-02-19T07:00:48","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T12:00:48","slug":"reuters-standard-chartered-eyes-zimbabwe-pe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/643017","title":{"rendered":"Reuters \u2013 Standard Chartered Eyes Zimbabwe PE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Standard Chartered<\/strong>‘s private equity arm is looking for more deals in Zimbabwe, writes Reuters<\/em>. The British bank, whose private equity business has assets under management of about $4.5 billion, made an investment in Zimbabwean agri-business Ariston Holdings<\/strong> through one of its portfolio companies, Afrifresh Group<\/strong>, last year.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/em> – Standard Chartered’s private equity arm is looking for more deals in Zimbabwe, a senior executive told Reuters on Monday, betting on a rise in consumer spending after years of hyperinflation.<\/p>\n

The British bank, whose private equity business has assets under management of about $4.5 billion, made an investment in Zimbabwean agri-business Ariston Holdings through one of its portfolio companies, Afrifresh Group, last year.<\/p>\n

The transaction was worth around $20 million. Ariston was previously listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n

Despite concerns about political risk ahead of general elections later this year, the bank sees potential for high returns in a country that is “starved for growth capital” after being weakened by hyperinflation, said Peter Baird, Standard Chartered’s head of private equity for Africa.<\/p>\n

“Standard Chartered Bank loves Zimbabwe and our appetite for equity risk in Zimbabwe is high,” he said, listing real estate, consumer goods and retail as the most attractive sectors.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe’s long-serving president Robert Mugabe, who formed a power-sharing government with rival Morgan Tsvangirai after a disputed 2008 vote, has set March 16 as the date for a referendum on a proposed new constitution.<\/p>\n

A general election is expected later in the year.<\/p>\n

Baird acknowledged there could be risks attached to the election, but said so far Standard Chartered’s dealings with the government, for example over Ariston, had been relatively smooth.<\/p>\n

“They were very reasonable about the indigenisation plan (to increase local ownership of businesses) that we filed … they were very reasonable about the perception of commercial agriculture being in foreign hands,” he said.<\/p>\n

The private equity team also wants to be an early mover in a country that boasts a well-educated, English-speaking population, as well as a functioning banking system and capital markets, Baird added.<\/p>\n

“Given the right policy framework and the right set of circumstances Zimbabwe will do just great,” he said.<\/p>\n

Standard Chartered Private Equity has invested around $550 million in Africa since 2008, with about half last year alone.<\/p>\n

It was also a co-investor with Carlyle Group LP and South African private equity fund Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund in pan-African agribusiness Export Trading Group, a deal announced in November.<\/p>\n

Baird was less bullish about the private equity team’s investment prospects for Africa as a whole in 2013 given the difficulty of finding companies of the right size and the reluctance of some family-owned businesses to sell equity.<\/p>\n

The post Reuters – Standard Chartered Eyes Zimbabwe PE<\/a> appeared first on peHUB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Standard Chartered‘s private equity arm is looking for more deals in Zimbabwe, writes Reuters. The British bank, whose private equity business has assets under management of about $4.5 billion, made an investment in Zimbabwean agri-business Ariston Holdings through one of its portfolio companies, Afrifresh Group, last year. Reuters – Standard Chartered’s private equity arm is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7428,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-643017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643017\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}