INTERVIEW-Private equity eyes Africa telcos, financials

By Alistair Thomson

DAKAR, March 28 (Reuters) - African consumers lapping up financial services and increasingly high-end telecommunications services offer rich pickings to a growing army of international investors, leading U.S.-based private equity firm ECP said.

With $1.2 billion raised for six funds, Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) classes itself as the largest Africa-dedicated private equity firm, offering institutional investors exposure uncorrelated to the United States and other major economies.

"The welcome mat has been put out for funds," Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gibian told Reuters late on Thursday.

Gibian cited eight years of strong economic growth well ahead of developed economies, coinciding with a five-fold rise in Africa's stock market capitalisation to around $1 trillion.

"Africa has kind of graduated: it's now a frontier market and it's on the radar screen for more investors," he said.

Gibian and ECP's Chief Operating Officer Hurley Doddy said in a telephone interview the firm was keen on developing investments in telecoms and financial services, which together already account for around half its investments through two large pan-African funds and four smaller, focused funds.

ECP funds have investments in some of Africa's more risky countries, including Sudan, Chad, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, which has seen serious post-election violence this year.

But Doddy said the spread of investments across so many countries limited the risk.