Baylis Emerging Markets establishes Baylis Digital, a dedicated vehicle to acquire and operate a portfolio of African telecommunications and digital infrastructure assets

New York, Dec 6, 2022 -

Baylis Emerging Markets ("Baylis" or "the Firm"), a leading African markets private equity firm, has established a wholly owned subsidiary entity dedicated to supporting its investment activities in the African telecommunications landscape. Baylis Digital Infrastructure Africa LLC ("Baylis Digital") will acquire, develop and operate premier digital infrastructure and telecommunications assets across the continent to help support Africa's digital convergence with the global community. The Firm believes data centers, terrestrial and subsea fiber optic cables, cell towers and the digital content and applications they enable present compelling investable opportunities to profit from the burgeoning growth of Africa's youthful population.

Baylis has recruited a world-class group of experienced telecommunications executive with decades of C-Suite experience from firms including MTN Group, Celtel and Vodafone Plc to direct this effort. Further expertise will be provided by a robust advisory board including African telecoms pioneers such as Alan Harper, a founder of Eaton Towers, and Tayo Ogundipe, a veteran CFO of publicly traded US mobile companies and a serial industry entrepreneur. Baylis Digital will leverage its repository of expertise to directly operate portfolio assets and provide them superior strategic and operational leadership.

In addition to domain expertise that allows the Baylis Digital team to develop and implement competitive business plans, the Firm enjoys unique access to proprietary deal flow through its robust industry network. Acquired assets will further benefit from portfolio level synergies and economies of scale, where applicable, through shared management, distribution, marketing and the development of pan-African brands and product offerings.

"Few opportunities on the African continent are as compelling as the emerging trends in mobile applications," said, Franklin Amoo, Partner at Baylis. "The mushrooming interest and activity in payments, digital content streaming and social media are generating a concurrent explosion in the demand for data and data storage. Digitization, the necessity of low latency performance and increased global interest in African content can only further increase the value of Africa's digital infrastructure and the necessity for additional communications architecture."

This investment program will emphasize digital inclusion and drive down the cost of consumer facing digital applications and enterprise-oriented data services, improving the region's competitiveness. "We founded Baylis to help drive Africa's industrialization and create the jobs of the future that Africa will need to employ its rapidly growing population" said Nico Martin, Baylis co-founder. "We have found that this will require the existence of world class digital infrastructure in order to properly materialize."

ABOUT BAYLIS EMERGING MARKETS

Founded in 2015, Baylis Emerging Markets LLC is a private equity firm that invests in growth companies across African markets, with a focus on the telecommunications, digital infrastructure, manufacturing and industrials sectors. Baylis diverse team holds extensive expertise in frontier markets, deep experience operating in African markets, and a proven track record of value creation through ESG initiatives. The firm's investment platform is characterized by a rigorous analytic approach, best-in-class investment diligence, and robust compliance safeguards.

Baylis long-term objective is to enable the efficient financing of Africa's industrialization via the deployment of global capital into African markets. The firm's maiden fund, the African Industrial & Telecommunications Growth Fund ("AITGF"), targets high-performing assets within the manufacturing, light Industrials, telecommunications and digital infrastructure sectors across Africa. In addition to targeting the job creating sectors critical to Africa's integration into global supply chains, Baylis creates impact by applying gender and climate lenses to its investments which also strongly promote digital and financial inclusion, skills transfer and gender equity. Baylis currently has offices in New York City and Lagos, Nigeria.