Africa’s top mezzanine fund manager, Vantage Capital, agreed to support Nigerian property developer landmark, by providing it $20 million. Given the risk associated to this type of financing and recent events regarding South African investments in Nigeria, Vantage Capital’s initiative seems more like a renewal of trust by South African actors in Nigerian opportunities.

“Nigeria has received much negative much press recently with a number of South African companies running into difficulties there and some announcing their exit. We hope that this mezzanine investment, the twentieth in our history, will help convince investors that the country has much to offer for those willing to take a longer-term, more balanced view of the current challenges facing the country,” said Luc Albinsky, managing partner at Vantage Capital.

Landmark, who manages hundreds of thousands of square meters of offices, including Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Procter 1 Gamble’s headquarters in Lagos, plans to use the funding to finance the live, work, play, mixed-used precinct it is developing in the Victoria Island area.

The new investment is Vantage Capital’s second transaction in Fund III, which is targeting a final closing of $260 million and has a 60% allocation to countries outside South Africa.

Idriss Linge