Watson Farley and Williams (“WFW”) has advised LeapFrog Investments (“LeapFrog”) on its acquisition of a 16.94% stake in Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited (“Fidelity Bank”), Ghana’s largest privately owned bank, from investment fund manager Amethis, an investment fund manager dedicated to the African continent and Edmond de Rothschild Equity Strategies (“ERES”), a mid-cap growth and buy-out franchise affiliated with the Edmond de Rothschild Group with a global investment mandate.
Fidelity Bank is a key contributor to socio-economic development in Ghana, operating 75 branches across the country and serving approximately two million customers. It was also one of the first 24 signatories to the Ghana Sustainable Banking Principles (SBPs), which include gender equality, financial inclusion, and environmental and social risk management (ESRM).
LeapFrog invests in exceptional businesses in Africa and Asia, partnering with their leaders to achieve leaps of growth, profitability and impact. Founded in 2007, LeapFrog has invested in companies that now reach 221 million people across 35 countries within healthcare or financial services. LeapFrog investee companies have also grown on average at 26% annually from the time of investment. They now provide jobs and livelihoods to 130,000 people. Driven by its Profit with Purpose strategy, LeapFrog has raised over US$2bn from global institutional investors, including US$500m recently committed by Temasek to LeapFrog and future funds.
The WFW London Corporate team that acted as international counsel to Leapfrog was led by Partner Andy Savage assisted by Senior Associate Nerina Erasmus and Associate Clementine Freeth.
Andy commented: “It was a pleasure to advise LeapFrog on another African investment. Africa is an important market for WFW and the transaction further demonstrates our ability to advise on African private equity transactions and our knowledge of the market”.
