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Q3 2015equity investment. She estimates theemerging middle class in Africa to be350m strong.The biggest fund to close is the $1,1bnLondon-based Helios Fund III. Over 60%of its funds are from repeat investors.Tope Lawani, managing partner of Helios,says the group has focused on coreeconomic infrastructure. It has acquiredan interest in ARM Pensions, the largestindependent pension fund manager inNigeria.Helios has the largest independent portfolioof telecom towers in Africa and alsoinvests in SA-based Continental OutdoorMedia.While private equity is certainly not theonly way to access Africa, it is the timingright now that makes it such an appealingoption. Although requiring a higherdegree of investment knowledge andhands-on participation, and groundwork,the private equity space has some majoradvantages for those willing to put in thetime and effort.Investors have a much broader selectionof companies with which they maychoose to get involved with and, as privateinvestors, have much greater accessand control regarding how the companiesare run (because you get into the companyearlier in its lifecycle), as opposedto being an “anonymous” investor in apublic market.Furthermore for private investors, capitalis not as vulnerable to the whims of otherpublic participants buying and sellingstocks on a public exchange. Although it’sa long-term investment horizon (five toseven years), achieving a similar or greatercapital growth than a stock exchange,with a more stable, or at least predictable,trajectory should not be too difficultAs countries across Africa grow, theirfinancial markets are bound to grow anddevelop with them, moving away fromthe informal sector. This means a steadyincrease in IPOs, increasing tradingvolumes and more stringent regulatorybodies overseeing the markets. Recently,investors from China and India have alsoshown great interest in private equityinvestment in Africa, particularly inthe natural resource, infrastructure andrenewable energy sectors.So to invest in a company now, andparticipate in its ultimate IPO, or get inwith the herd after the fact? That is thequestion a lot of private investors need toask themselves when considering whichway they would most prefer to access thegreat “African growth storyNew Markets Investor94