Global alternative asset manager, the Carlyle Group, will acquire a majority share in SA-headquartered CMC Networks, for an undisclosed amount.
CMC is a pan-African provider of managed connectivity solutions for global telecoms providers and is headquartered in Johannesburg and Mauritius.
Investec Equity Partners is selling its stake in the company, and the founder and management team will invest alongside Carlyle, CMC says in a statement. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions.
Grant Walker, founder and CEO of CMC, says the investment by Carlyle will support CMC's plans to accelerate its growth.
"CMC manages the largest virtual network in Africa and the Middle East, and maintains world-class reliability and latency standards on the connections they manage. This, alongside our investment and support, will help facilitate expansion into emerging markets and new service areas," according to Braam Verster, a director of the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund.
Founded in 1989, CMC now has a network and office footprint spanning 50 countries in Africa, as well as an extensive Middle Eastern network and key connection points across the globe. Their propriety network allows global telecom companies to provide reliable and high-quality enterprise connectivity to corporate clients.
The Carlyle Group is listed on the Nasdaq and has $169 billion (R2.4 trillion) of assets under management across 125 funds and 177 fund of funds vehicles. This will be the seventh investment, and the second this year by Carlyle's dedicated to the Sub-Saharan Africa Fund.
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