Purple Capital, Nigeria’s upmarket developer gets $12.5m funding for real estate development

Nigeria’s Purple Capital, developer of the iconic 6,000m² Maryland Mall, a neighbourhood shopping centre in the Ikeja district of Lagos, Tuesday received $12.5 million of funding from Vantage Capital, Africa’s largest mezzanine fund manager.

Purple Capital, headquartered in Lagos, has a reputation for building a high-quality property portfolio, including upmarket residential estates in the Lekki suburb of Lagos.

Warren van der Merwe, chief operating officer of Vantage Capital, said, “The Purple team epitomizes the best of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial spirit with its ability to navigate a demanding operating environment to create market-leading developments. Maryland Mall is one such development, a uniquely inviting family destination for Lagosians of all ages.”

Johnny Jones, associate partner at Vantage Capital, said Vantage is currently investing over fifty million dollars from its third-generation mezzanine fund in real-estate projects across sub-Saharan Africa.

“We have reviewed over fifty real-estate opportunities since we launched our latest mezzanine fund but have only selected four to support. We are impressed with the Purple team’s cost-effective execution and believe their business is an excellent fit for our investment style.”

Laide Agboola, managing partner at Purple said they are excited about Vantage Capital’s partnership on the refinancing and investment transaction, which , according to him would help reset, consolidate and gear up Purple for exciting opportunities in the future.

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“It also provides a seal of approval and increased possibilities for growth across our focus areas of financial services and real estate development,” he noted.

“Our focus on good corporate governance, high-quality deal origination and execution was a strong attraction for Vantage Capital as an offshore investor. Their investment acts as an enabler to our long-term growth strategy in Africa’s largest economy,” added Obinna Onunkwo, another managing partner at Purple.

The Purple investment is Vantage Capital’s sixth transaction in Fund III, a $280 million (R4 billion) fund, with a 55 percent allocation to countries outside South Africa. Purple Capital represents the 24th transaction executed by Vantage across three generations of mezzanine funds with aggregate capital deployed to date of $277 million (R4 billion).