Investment Associate (Africa focus), Helios Investment Partners

The role

A leading private equity firm focused on Africa is seeking an outstanding investment professional at the Associate level, who will play an important role in the critical aspects of the firm’s investment activities. This represents an excellent opportunity to gain exposure to African private equity investing as part of a top quality team with a highly differentiated and focused investment strategy.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

Investment analysis and evaluation;
Conducting due diligence on potential investment targets;
Investment Sourcing; and
Assistance with Portfolio Company monitoring.
Qualifications/skills required

Experience of structuring and executing a wide variety of transactions;
Experience preparing pitch books and client presentations;
Experience working in a transaction execution- orientated team at a leading Global Investment bank;
Strong modeling and financial analysis skills acquired from an investment bank, and a successful track record;
Highly analytical, driven professional with at least four years of experience working within finance;
Confident, self-starting and able to work independently;
Strong oral and written communication skills;
Attention to detail;
The maturity to work independently and to build effective working relationships with diverse conditions;
An excellent academic record including a Master’s degree; and
Excellent written and spoken English.

About Helios Investment Partners

Visit the Helios Investment Partners Website

Helios Investment Partners is an Africa-focused private investment firm. Helios operates a family of funds and their related co-investment entities, aggregating more than $2.7 billion in capital commitments, pursuing a full range of investment types, including business formations, growth equity investments, structured investments in listed entities and large scale leveraged acquisitions across Africa. The firm also managed the $110 million Modern Africa Fund on behalf of a range of investors which included the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation and several leading U.S. corporations. 

Established in 2004 and led by co-founding partners Tope Lawani and Babatunde Soyoye, Helios is one of the largest investment firms focusing on Africa and is among the few independent pan-African private equity investment firms to be founded and managed by Africans. The investment experience of the members of our team has been gained from decades of collective experience in private equity, in some of the world's most competitive and demanding markets, within such leading firms as TPG Capital, Bain Capital, Warburg Pincus, HgCapital, The Carlyle Group, among others. 

Our team has significant experience in private equity investing across a broad range of industries and investment types - leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, joint ventures, seed-stage venture capital, restructurings, and strategic public equity investments. Equally importantly, members of our team possess significant operational expertise derived from our collective involvement in the conceptualisation, creation and development of several new businesses in various markets and from having played critical operating roles in corporate turnaround situations. 

We believe that Helios' combination of deep knowledge of the African market, extensive investment experience, the capability to add value to portfolio company operations, and strong network of reliable and trusted local and industrial financial contacts positions it well to identify and execute on attractive investment opportunities in the region. 

The principals of Helios believe that the firm is well positioned to serve as a 'bridge' between Africa, on the one hand, and Europe and North America, on the other and that our approach will yield opportunities to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns in the complex but relatively inefficient and uncompetitive region while, at the same time, contributing to the socio-economic development of the continent. 

Limited partners in Helios' funds include leading endowments and foundations, global funds-of-funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, high net worth individuals, and development finance institutions. Certain of Helios' funds are advised by its London-based investment adviser, Helios Investment Partners LLP, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority.