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Development Partners International, the Africa focused private equity firm founded by Runa Alam, has sold its minority stake in Atlantic Business International to Morocco’s Banque Centrale Populaire Group in a deal worth more than $200 million.
DPI said the sale, completed Dec. 24, covered its 20.17% holding and values ABI at more than $1 billion. BCP, already the majority owner, now controls 100% of the business. DPI said the proceeds will be returned to investors and redeployed into new deals.
The exit caps an eight year investment and gives Alam a prominent win as investors reassess Africa risk and return. Alam has argued that financial services can widen opportunity while producing steady earnings.
ABI is BCP’s sub Saharan holding company for the Banque Atlantique banking network, overseeing commercial banks and insurers across West and Central Africa. ABI says it serves more than 850,000 customers through 10 banks and four insurance companies in eight countries.
Through those subsidiaries, the group offers retail and business accounts, lending to small and midsize companies, trade finance and payments services, plus life and general insurance. It also runs specialist units providing brokerage and asset management services.
DPI first invested in 2017 through its African Development Partners II fund. DPI said it worked with ABI’s management and BCP to expand in the West African Economic and Monetary Union region and improve access to finance for small enterprises. DPI partner Babacar Ka said the work helped “strengthen and grow the business.”
Alam founded DPI in 2007 with Miles Morland, pitching it as a pan African private equity firm built for global pensions and insurers but grounded in local operators. She was born in Bangladesh and later studied at Princeton University and Harvard Business School, the firm says, before working at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.
In 2021, DPI said its third flagship fund was set to close at $900 million, with an extra $250 million earmarked for co-investments, reflecting sustained demand from institutional investors. DPI has invested in sectors such as telecom towers, consumer services and nonbank lenders, aiming to professionalise governance and scale regional champions.
BCP, one of Morocco’s largest banking groups, has been building its African footprint for years. With ABI now fully in house, it will steer strategy across the network without a minority partner.
Alam’s next test is whether DPI can keep delivering exits as dealmaking slows and capital costs rise.
