Apis Partners Group (UK) Limited (“Apis”), a global private equity firm specialising in financial infrastructure and technology, today announced that cumulative portfolio realisations across funds managed by the firm surpassed US$1 billion during Q1 of this year. Achieving this milestone in a challenging exit environment underscores the strength of Apis’ approach to portfolio construction and its track record on exits.
Across Fund I and Fund II, Apis has fully or partially realised 14 out of 21 investments, predominantly through sales to strategic buyers. The firm has returned capital efficiently: distributing Fund I proceeds within 10 years, and already returning over US$400 million to Fund II investors from a fund that raised US$563 million in 2019 and remains early in its lifecycle.
The recent exits of Baobab and iKhokha, acquired by Beltone Capital and NedBank respectively, saw cumulative realisations surpass US$1 billion. Apis’ partnership with Baobab helped improve access to financial services including micro-loans, savings and mobile payments for 1.6 million customers, aligned with the firm’s focus on financial democratisation as a key investment theme. Throughout the Fund’s investment period, Apis played a pivotal role in multiple value creation initiatives at Baobab, including strengthening the senior leadership team with the appointment of an experienced CEO, CFO and CTO; delivering comprehensive upgrades to technology infrastructure enabling enhanced scalability; and expanding Baobab’s suite of digital products.
Apis also supported the transformation of iKhokha as part of the Adumo platform, scaling a leading low-cost digital payments provider focused on underserved SMEs in South Africa. Through a disciplined buy-and-build strategy, combining iKhokha with Sureswipe and Innervation, Apis and iKhokha’s management team built South Africa’s largest independent payments platform, serving more than 20,000 SME and enterprise merchants and processing over ZAR20 billion of annual payment volumes, while expanding access to affordable card acceptance technology and value-added services for small businesses. Apis supported iKhokha’s management team in scaling operations, strengthening distribution, and expanding product innovation including embedded payments, merchant funding and loyalty solutions, helping bring modern digital commerce capabilities to thousands of previously underserved merchants.
Additional fund exits which significantly contributed to the realisations milestone include the exits of DPO, Star Healthand EFG, and partial exit from Fund II of Coda.
Matteo Stefanel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Apis, commented:
“We are proud to have surpassed US$1 billion in realisations, especially in today’s market. This validates our disciplined investment approach and sector expertise. Our team’s ability to identify, support, and successfully exit transformative businesses, often by engaging with buyers before we invest, continues to be key to Apis’ approach to investing.”
Udayan Goyal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Apis, added:
“Our success is built on deep sector knowledge, a partnership-driven model, and a relentless focus on value creation and exit execution. Apis’ network and sector specialism enables us to support firms’ value creation from day one. We remain committed to delivering superior outcomes for our LPs, while ensuring our investments drive meaningful, sustainable impact.”
Read the orginal article: https://ffnews.com/newsarticle/funding/apis-partners-portfolio-realisations-surpass-us1-billion/
