UK-based finance boutique firm, DVK Group, is seeking investment opportunities in the East African region
DVK Group, which manages two private equity funds – Agrofund and Emerging Market Fund, has already identified a number of prospects in Kenya. The group has set its sights on farming and the development of the Lamu Port on the Kenyan coast, near the border with Somalia. DVK Group chairman, Deepak Kuntawala, told the media in Nairobi that the company was in talks with farmers’ savings and credit co-operative societies in Kenya to access financing from the UK.
The firm is also said to be interested in the planned Konza Technolopolis, an IT hub currently being constructed in Eastern Kenya. While the US$100mn Emerging Market Fund targets opportunities in infrastructure, technology, energy and real estate; the US$100mn Agrofund, operated from Johannesburg in South Africa, invests in the agricultural supply chain.
During DVK’s recent visit, the company’s team, which included former British Trade and Industry Minister and House of Commons Deputy Leader, Dr Nigel Griffiths, and DVK Group’s Africa Fund Advisor, Marrianne Alapini, held meetings with government officials and industry players. Kuntawala said an office would be set up in Nairobi by mid-2012 to co-ordinate its operations in the East and Central African region. The company plans to return to Kenya imminently to continue discussions and explore opportunities further.
Mwangi Mumero
