Emerging Capital Partners Names Mathes Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations

By Emerging Capital Partners, PRNE
Saturday, October 30, 2010

Appointment of former World Bank Group executive follows $613M USD fund close

WASHINGTON, November 1, 2010 - Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), the first private equity group to raise
over $1.8 billion to invest in companies across Africa, today announced the
appointment of former World Bank executive Marie-France Mathes as Managing
Director and Head of Investor Relations. Ms. Mathes will lead efforts to
strengthen communications with ECP limited partners. The firm looks toward a
range of potential acquisitions from its third $613 million pan-African fund,
the largest private equity fund ever raised for growth equity investing
across Africa. ECP also expects to exit a number of current investments made
from prior funds.

"This appointment highlights ECP's unequivocal commitment to
communicating with investors," said Hurley Doddy, co-CEO of ECP.
"Marie-France is a private equity veteran with an impeccable record within
the industry. We are delighted to have her join the senior ECP team."

Ms. Mathes will coordinate investor relations for ECP's growing investor
base, which now includes sovereign wealth funds, funds of funds, family
offices and African pension funds. She will be based in Washington D.C.,
coordinating information management within ECP, the ECP funds and ECP
portfolio companies across Africa.

"This is an extremely exciting time to join the pre-eminent private
equity firm for investing in Africa, especially as the continent rises to
become the next great emerging market," said Ms. Mathes. "Opportunities for
ECP and its investors are abundant as Africa's consumer markets and
intra-regional trade develop in tandem with its natural resources and
export-led growth."

ECP raised Africa Fund III to continue its investments in Africa's
financial services, telecommunications, power and infrastructure, natural
resources and agriculture, having already invested more than $180 million.
The current companies in Africa Fund III include Togo-based Financial Bank;
the telecommunications services provider Wananchi Group of Kenya; Groupe
NSIA, the West and Central Africa insurer; and the Madagascar and Cote
d'Ivoire
based Thunnus Overseas Group, which provides 25% of the canned tuna
in the French market.

Ms. Mathes has extensive experience in private equity having served as a
Managing Director with Macon PE, an emerging markets private equity advisory
firm, and Chairperson and Member of the investment committee with
CAM-NewMarkets, a fund of funds, both of which she co-founded. Earlier in her
career, she served as a Senior Investment Officer with the International
Financial Corporation, the World Bank's investment banking arm. Before
joining the IFC, Ms. Mathes worked for Baring Private Equity Partners and
Banque Paribas Capital Markets. She holds a M.Sc. in Economics from
Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris and a M. Phil. in International Relations from
Cambridge University, UK.

ABOUT ECP

Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) is the first private equity firm to raise
over $1.8 billion to invest in companies across Africa. The ECP team has a
10-year track record of investing in Africa through seven successful funds,
with investments in more than 50 companies across 40 African countries. The
firm's investment strategy is based on delivering consistently above-market
returns by focusing on economies uncorrelated to the U.S. and other developed
nations. The ECP team operates from offices in Washington, D.C., Abidjan,
Casablanca, Douala, Johannesburg, Lagos, Paris and Tunis. For more
information, please see www.ecpinvestments.com.

Daniel Del'Re, FD for ECP, +1-212-850-5724, daniel.delre at fd.com

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