Acorn Private Equity

Acorn is a specialist private equity fund manager and investment advisor focused exclusively on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Founded in 2009, Acorn is a dedicated partner to all our investee companies, fostering sustainable businesses and generating long-term value for all stakeholders.

The Acorn investment team is committed to exceptional performance, uncompromising integrity, honesty and ethical business practices. These principles allow us to encourage value creation and support growth as opposed to maximising returns to the detriment of our underlying partner companies.

Acorn specialises in two main areas of investment:

• The food and agri sector;
• Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Acorn invests through Limited Liability Partnerships as well as an investment holding company, Acorn Agri.

Investment Criteria of Acorn Agri:

Industry Focus
Acorn Agri invests in the agriculture and food value chain in Southern Africa.

Targeted Companies
Acorn Agri invests in mid-cap businesses that display a sustainable competitive advantage, a scalable business position, capability set or product portfolio or brand in Southern African countries.

Investment Size
Investment size in the range of R50m – R500m

Qualitative Considerations
Given Acorn´s emphasis on partnership with management, we only consider investments where we believe such a partnership is likely to succeed. This includes partnering with competent and honest management teams and ensuring that they have equity ownership in their respective companies. Furthermore, our partner companies must have easily understandable business models, robust financial health and a clear competitive advantage. Growth prospects must be present in partner companies as well as the ability to create jobs and positively impact the communities and environment in which they operate.