Africa’s private capital sees more exits and cash still trapped

African private equity (PE) headline exit counts in African private equity are rising, but limited partners are not enjoying the liquidity. A record 81 exits were recorded in 2025, a 27 per cent year-on-year increase and the second-highest total on record. Early 2026 data also shows that venture-backed exits hold above the three-year average. But for LPs, these numbers mask a structural challenge of a clogged exit pipeline.

A composition problem
The mismatch is in the nature of exits, not their number. Trade buyers accounted for 38 per cent of 2025 exits, and for 88 per cent of venture exits in the first quarter of 2026, according to data from the Africa Venture Capital Association (AVCA). Rather than a market-clearing transaction, almost every exit was a negotiated bilateral sale. Analysts at BusinessDay Intelligence say that initial public offerings (IPOs), which are practically non-extistent would have provided general partners (GPs) with full value realisation and limited partners (LPs) with liquid marks. Historical data shows that out of dozens of exits, African PE has recorded years with zero IPOs. Only one IPO out of 44 exits was recorded as recently as 2019.

This reliance on trade sales takes longer, caps upside, and creates a backlog. Worse still, the investor base comprising development finance institutions (DFI) anchored 64 per cent of the almost US$2.7 billion raised across 16 funds in 2025. This is a 34 per cent decline in value from the prior year. DFIs are often barred from secondary trading and reluctant to sell at a discount, leaving capital locked in ageing funds rather than recycling into new ones. AVCA data shows African PE funds have raised nearly US$30 billion in the last ten years, with much of it trapped in this no-public-exit-window manner.

A vote of confidence, not on plumbing
The consequence for GPs is a slow squeeze. AVCA’s 2026 Investor Sentiment survey found that 27 per cent of LPs expect to slow commitments this year, even though 87 per cent still plan to maintain or grow African allocations over the next 36 months. That is a vote of confidence in the asset class, but a vote of no confidence in its exit plumbing. Investors like the returns, given that they are increasingly reporting double-digit net internal rate of returns (IRRs) in 2025\. However, they doubt that the exit pipes will deliver cash on time.

A functioning secondary market is the fix
Several market participants tout a functioning secondaries market as the solution. They say that a market that allows DFIs and other anchor LPs to trade stakes without waiting for a trade sale is a panacea for increased liquidity. Recent data shows that secondary transactions are gaining traction, with Sango Capital’s US$120m LP-stake acquisition in May 2026 being the largest documented secondary deal in African PE. This signals that a market is slowly emerging. But this market needs to scale so that LPs can redeploy their cash as headline exit counts rise. And for GPs seeking to raise their next fund, they will have to explain, in their pitch, how much value they have extracted from their investments, not how many exits they have done.