Criterion Africa Partners (CAP) is a private equity firm, investing in the acquisition and development of sustainable assets across the forestry value chain in sub-Saharan Africa.5
CAP, which emerged from Global Environmental Funds’ Africa Sustainable Forestry investment programme 6 now manages two funds: Africa Sustainable Forestry Fund I, which has disbursed $160 million, and the second fund, Africa Sustainable Forestry Fund II, targeting $200 million (first close at $82 million).7
CAP makes investments in and manages businesses within the forestry sector in three sub-sectors: plantation acquisition and rehabilitation; downstream (wood) manufacturing; and biomass energy. Its main funders are the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, and investors include development finance institutions, foundations and family offices.8
Examples of CAP’s portfolio companies include: Mphome, a 6,400-hectare pine and eucalyptus plantation in South Africa; KVTC, which owns sawmills and Africa’s largest privately owned teak plantations; and Peak Timbers, a 31,000-hectare, FCS-certified timber plantation and sawmilling business.
5 ‘Criterion Africa Partners (CAP)’. n.d. Criterion Africa Partners. Accessed 17 September 2020. https://www.criterionafrica.com/.
6 ‘Criterion Africa Partners (CAP)’. n.d. Criterion Africa Partners. Accessed 17 September 2020. https://www.criterionafrica.com/.
7 ‘Criterion Africa Partner - Africa Sustainable Forestry Fund’. 2019. Criterion Africa Partner. https://www.criterionafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Criterion-Africa-Partners-ASFF-Impact-Brochure-1.pdf.
8 Rachel Bass, Peter Murphy, and Hannah Dithrich. 2019. ‘Scaling Impact Investment in Forestry’. Global Impact Investing Network. https://thegiin.org/assets/GIIN_Scalingpercent-20Impactpercent20Investmentpercent20inpercent20Forestry_webfile.pdf.