Afinitas keeps tabs on strife in Ethiopia
Staff Writer | Friday October 14, 2016 17:48
This follows recent media reports on Ethiopia, which had highlighted public unrest in parts of the country.
“We wish to assure shareholders that the Directors of Afinitas Limited are continuously monitoring these events. The Board still remains committed to investing in Ethiopia and believes that the long term fundamentals of the country remain strong,” the company said.
Afinitas maintains a commercial representative office and a management team based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“The operations of this office and the team have not been impeded by the ongoing protests. Currently, the team is focused on carrying out due diligence on a number of shortlisted priority projects. The company will publish details of these investments at the appropriate time and keep shareholders regularly informed on progress,” the company said.
In a bid to extend its footprint across Africa, Afinitas Limited early this year said it would invest $2.5 million (P28.6 million) to establish an Ethiopia-focused holding company.
Afinitas executive director, Leutlwetse Tumelo told BusinessWeek that his company is an Africa-focused investment company, noting that creating an Ethiopia-focused holding company falls within their objective of investing in various sectors and countries across the continent.
Tumelo stated that the Ethiopian government is focused on attracting long-term private sector investment into the country, adding that for more than a decade now Ethiopia has enjoyed one of the fastest gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates in the world, on average about 10%.
According to Tumelo, Ethiopia offers a large and rapidly modernising population, estimated at 97 million people. He said this represents a large domestic market for goods and services produced in the country.
He noted that economic projections indicate that the country will continue to enjoy strong economic growth rates. “From the perspective of Afinitas, we believe that the forecast economic growth rate, growing population and the positively changing investment environment has created many investment opportunities,” he said.
Tumelo said they would now be actively working to conclude a number of potential investments that they have identified. The new entity in Ethiopia will be the second subsidiary in Afinitas Limited and will have an investment mandate focused on seeding new investments in the country or investing in existing projects. It is anticipated that the new entity will be incorporated in Mauritius and will own investments directly in Ethiopia, which is the second most populous nation in Africa.
Last year, Afinitas indicated that it was targeting Africa as an investment destination, noting that the continent’s strong economic growth forecast is encouraging.
Following the listing of Afinitas on the local bourse in July last year, a new company, Africa Events Limited was incorporated and registered in Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, on July 31, 2015.
Afinitas also acquired a 50% stake in the London-held annual Africa Financial Services Investment Conference (AFSIC).
Apart from AFSIC, the company stated that it eyes to make various other investments ranging between $2 million and $4 million in industries such as financial services, insurance companies, leasing companies, fund management companies, deposit companies and lending companies.