BluePeak Private Capital, an alternative asset management firm with a strong focus on Africa, has announced its investment in Grit Real Estate Income Group Limited (Grit), a breakthrough pan–African real estate company.
The investment operationalizes Grit’s development plan to boost industrial and health facilities in East Africa, improving access to essential goods and quality healthcare.
London Stock Exchange-listed Grit invests in and actively manages a diversified portfolio of high-quality assets across the continent. Founded in 2014 by Bronwyn Knight, Grit’s portfolio comprises 54 investments across more than eight countries and five asset classes.
BluePeak partnered with Ethos Mezzanine Partners, to jointly invest US$ 31.5 million in Grit in a transaction led by Ethos Mezzanine Partners.
The transaction marks the inaugural investment from the BluePeak Private Capital Fund SCSp, an impact-linked private credit and mezzanine finance facility raised during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Proceeds from the Fund’s inaugural investment into Grit will be deployed to partially fund the acquisition (on a sale and leaseback basis), restoration and expansion of a prominent warehousing and manufacturing facility in Nairobi by Orbit Africa, a pioneering manufacturer of personal and homecare hygiene products in the East African region.
BluePeak Announces First Investment From Flagship $200m Private Capital
The total purchase, refurbishment, and expansion cost of US$ 53.6 million is actualised by a US$ 25 million senior debt structure backed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and US$ 28.6 million through the investment provided by BluePeak and Ethos. As one of the largest sale and leaseback transactions across sub-Saharan Africa, the deal bolsters Orbit’s balance sheet and unlocks additional cash flow to enable the company’s expansion, increasing production to meet rising consumer demand.
Grit will invest the remaining proceeds of the investment into St Helene Private Hospital, a freely accessible multi-speciality hospital in the Curepipe region of Mauritius, one of the island’s most densely populated areas, where there is urgent demand for quality health care.
Commenting, Adam Hadidi, Managing Director at BluePeak Private Capital, said: “Grit has built one of the largest and most diversified real estate platforms across Africa and proven the resilience of its portfolio. We are pleased to support Orbit’s acquisition and redevelopment of a one-of-a-kind industrial asset in Kenya, and the development of St Helene to boost access to quality healthcare facilities in Mauritius.”
Bronwyn Knight, Founder/CEO, Grit said: “We are excited to start this long-term partnership with the IFC, BluePeak and Ethos Mezzanine Partners on the strength of a robust and well-established East African tenant covenant and an accretive investment and redevelopment project in a prime location. The funding will allow Grit to further increase its exposure to Kenya and the broader light industrial sector and additionally to the healthcare sector in Mauritius”.
