Switzerland-based private equity firm, Vital Capital Investments LP is launching a $500 million investment fund that will focus on African sectors that are often overlooked by competitors.

 

The firm’s second Africa-focused fund, Vital Capital Fund II, will examine opportunities in Mozambique, Tanzania, Rwanda, Angola, Ethiopia, Uganda, Cameroon, Ghana, and Ivory Coast, and will target as many as 20 investments in agriculture, water, clean energy, healthcare, and housing.

 

“People consider those areas that we’re active in as higher risk and there are less entities involved,” says Eytan Stibbe, managing partner of Vital Capital Investments, “… so we decided to create Vital as a platform for Western money to be invested in Africa.”

 

Vital Capital Fund II has a hard cap of $700 million, and its first close is expected to occur by the end of 2015 according to David Van Adelsberg, advisor to the fund. Vital Capital is currently in talks with multiple institutional investors, including the Africa Development Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corp.

 

Vital Capital Fund I has been deployed, committing to 12 projects. The firm has since exited two investments, and has posted an internal rate of return in excess of 24%. Of the total committed capital, more than 33% has been distributed back to investors, and 44% of the fund’s called capital has been returned.

 

The Global Impact Investing Rating System, which has ranked 80 funds that aim to generate environmental and social benefit in addition to returns, has rated Vital Capital among the top ten funds for impact performance.

 

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