About

Balancing commercial risks with potential gains is a challenge for many legal teams in the investment sector, but the team at Actis – a leading growth markets investor with a strong presence in a number of African countries – has the added pressure to invest responsibly. Led by general counsel and Africa expert Paul Owers, the team has built a reputation both for its unparalleled knowledge of the African market and for helping the fund outmanoeuvre many of its peers while also delivering on its mandate to invest responsibly.

Actis was formed as a spin-off of the Commonwealth Development Commission (CDC) in 2004 and has since committed billions of pounds in capital to sustainable investment projects around the word, including around $1.5bn across Africa over the past decade. This year the fund raised over $500m for its Actis Africa Real Estate Fund 3 (ARE3), almost doubling the capital commitment raised with its previous Africa real estate fund in 2012.