Emerging Capital Partners Names Mathes Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), the first private equity group to raise over $1.8 billion to invest in companies across Africa, today announced the appointment of former World Bank executive Marie-France Mathes as Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations.  Ms. Mathes will lead efforts to strengthen communications with ECP limited partners. The firm looks toward a range of potential acquisitions from its third $613 million pan-African fund, the largest private equity fund ever raised for growth equity investing across Africa. ECP also expects to exit a number of current investments made from prior funds.

"This appointment highlights ECP's unequivocal commitment to communicating with investors," said Hurley Doddy, co-CEO of ECP. "Marie-France is a private equity veteran with an impeccable record within the industry. We are delighted to have her join the senior ECP team."

Ms. Mathes will coordinate investor relations for ECP's growing investor base, which now includes sovereign wealth funds, funds of funds, family offices and African pension funds. She will be based in Washington D.C., coordinating information management within ECP, the ECP funds and ECP portfolio companies across Africa.

"This is an extremely exciting time to join the pre-eminent private equity firm for investing in Africa, especially as the continent rises to become the next great emerging market," said Ms. Mathes. "Opportunities for ECP and its investors are abundant as Africa's consumer markets and intra-regional trade develop in tandem with its natural resources and export-led growth."

ECP raised Africa Fund III to continue its investments in Africa's financial services, telecommunications, power and infrastructure, natural resources and agriculture, having already invested more than $180 million. The current companies in Africa Fund III include Togo-based Financial Bank; the telecommunications services provider Wananchi Group of Kenya; Groupe NSIA, the West and Central Africa insurer; and the Madagascar and Cote d'Ivoire based Thunnus Overseas Group, which provides 25% of the canned tuna in the French market.

Ms. Mathes has extensive experience in private equity having served as a Managing Director with Macon PE, an emerging markets private equity advisory firm, and Chairperson and Member of the investment committee with CAM-NewMarkets, a fund of funds, both of which she co-founded. Earlier in her career, she served as a Senior Investment Officer with the International Financial Corporation, the World Bank's investment banking arm. Before joining the IFC, Ms. Mathes worked for Baring Private Equity Partners and Banque Paribas Capital Markets. She holds a M.Sc. in Economics from Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris and a M. Phil. in International Relations from Cambridge University, UK.

ABOUT ECP

Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) is the first private equity firm to raise over $1.8 billion to invest in companies across Africa. The ECP team has a 10-year track record of investing in Africa through seven successful funds, with investments in more than 50 companies across 40 African countries. The firm's investment strategy is based on delivering consistently above-market returns by focusing on economies uncorrelated to the U.S. and other developed nations. The ECP team operates from offices in Washington, D.C., Abidjan, Casablanca, Douala, Johannesburg, Lagos, Paris and Tunis. For more information, please see www.ecpinvestments.com.

SOURCE Emerging Capital Partners