Gulf Capital, AfricInvest pump $51m into iSON Xperiences

Gulf Capital, one of the largest and most active alternative asset management firms in the Middle East, and AfricInvest, a leading pan-African mid-cap-focused private equity firm, have partnered for the first time to provide a US$51m structured loan and equity investment to iSON Xperiences (formerly iSON BPO Limited) (http://iSONbpo.com), one of the largest outsourcing and customer experience partner/delivery partner operating in 14 countries in Africa and in India.

Gulf Credit Opportunities Fund II, Gulf Capitals’ second private debt fund, and AfricInvest Fund III, the firm’s third generation pan-African fund, provided a total debt and equity commitment of US$25.5m each. Proceeds from the co-investment will be used for growth and working capital, as well as for acquiring shares from a minority investor.

iSON Xperiences is the largest customer experience partner / delivery partner in Sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for an estimated 75% of the market, excluding South Africa. The company’s operations serve 425 million telecom end-users through 27 call centres in 13 Sub-Saharan countries, South Africa and India.

The deal marks the sixth investment for Gulf Capital from its US$251m second debt fund and is the second for the company in Sub-Saharan Africa. With this commitment in iSON, Gulf Credit Opportunities Fund II is now 52% invested. It is the 10th investment for the US$273m AfricInvest fund III that is now more than 80% deployed.