Coors-Led Group Brews Fund to Invest in Africa

 NOTE: Can this idea be transferred to the country of Haiti? Isn't Mr. Coors statement "after contributing to an organization for orphaned children in Kenya for more than a decade, I realized that most of the children whose schooling he paid for were graduating into an economy without jobs to sustain them", a point to be considered concerning the students at Carissade?

What are your thoughts on this? Please comment/discuss below this article. 

JOHANNESBURG—A club of wealthy families led by brewing scion John K. Coors is setting up a new private-equity fund that plans to invest $300 million in Africa and go toe-to-toe with other funds in the continent's frontier markets.

The group of more than 10 families aims to invest the sum over the next four years, while recruiting other wealthy families to contribute. In an interview, Mr. Coors said the group will make its first investment in Africa this year. He didn't disclose details but said the fund is in discussions with two South African companies and another from outside the continent looking to set up operations in Kenya.

 "What allows businesses to create jobs and grow is investment capital, and patient capital is what the continent needs right now," Mr. Coors said.

Long-deprived of patient foreign capital, Africa is now seeing an influx of private-equity funds.
Buy-in from firms like Blackstone Group LP BX +1.29% and Carlyle Group LP CG -0.34% has helped push foreign direct investment on the continent from $15 billion a decade ago to nearly $43 billion in 2011, the most recent year for which the United Nations has compiled complete data.

Those and other firms are drawn not only to companies tapping Africa's rich deposits of oil and minerals, but also to homegrown retail and manufacturing companies springing up to serve a nascent consumer class that the African Development Bank says already comprises a third of the continent's one billion people.

Their desire for mobile phones, foodstuffs and other items beyond the cost of subsistence is helping push sub-Saharan Africa's projected economic expansion to 5.6% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

"The opportunity is large and growing larger," said Chinesom Ejiasa, director of private equity at the Overseas Private Investment Corp., a U.S. government agency that often invests alongside U.S. companies doing business in Africa. He oversees $630 million invested through nine funds in telecoms, banks, restaurants and dozens of other companies on the continent.

Mr. Coors, whose great-grandfather founded the brewer that is now part of Molson Coors Brewing Co.,TAP -2.66% said the group's approach differs from that of larger private-equity players on the continent because of its willingness to make investments even smaller than the $10 million to $25 million deals that are typical in Africa.

The group—dubbed "One Thousand & One Voices" because of what Mr. Coors said will be its collaborative approach between wealthy families, African business people and their employees—also is willing to stay invested for a decade or longer and to share the expertise of the group's wealthy investors.
While the fund could offer African companies an alternative to investors seeking quicker and larger returns, some private-equity professionals played down a competitive threat.

"Africa is just at such a nascent stage that any new players that come in are good for the market," said Ronald Tamale, a director of Africa private equity at Standard Chartered Bank, which has $600 million invested on the continent. "If people can differentiate themselves, and provide capital that is more flexible and in for a longer time, that's good for Africa too," Mr. Tamale said.

Mr. Coors said that after contributing to an organization for orphaned children in Kenya for more than a decade, he realized that most of the children whose schooling he paid for were graduating into an economy without jobs to sustain them.

"Philanthropy does not work for economic development," said the 57-year-old Mr. Coors, who is also president and chairman of another family business, the semiconductor manufacturer CoorsTek Inc. "What does work is capitalism, and we want to create great returns and prosperity for all people involved, those investing and those who are being invested in."

Hendrik Jordaan, a former attorney at Morrison & Foerster LLP who serves as the group's chief executive, said he plans to deploy a staff of about 15 people working out of offices in African business hubs like Johannesburg and Nairobi to find and monitor the group's investments.

The 42-year-old native South African acknowledges that the move will put One Thousand & One Voices in competition with larger funds with deeper pockets. But he said he believes the fund will be attractive, especially to smaller African companies that have established some dominance in their home market and now are looking to take the next step overseas.

"We intend to play in that sweet spot in the middle," said Mr. Jordaan.

Write to Patrick McGroarty at patrick.mcgroarty@dowjones.com 

A version of this article appeared May 6, 2013, on page C1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Coors-Led Group Brews Fund to Invest in Africa.