Private credit fund lists in Cape Town to tackle $21bn gap

Creation Capital is listing a private credit fund in Cape Town Wednesday to bridge a R350 billion ($21 billion) financing gap faced by South Africa’s micro, small and medium enterprises.

The Creation Yield Fund, among the country’s first to include privately originated debt investments in a regulated exchange-listed note structure, has a target size of R3 billion and initial issuance of R300 million that’s anchored by a large local pension fund.

It will channel proceeds to small and medium enterprises as well as to mid-market corporate firms through non-bank financial lenders.

“SMEs employ about 60% of the workforce in the country and contribute up to 40% to our gross domestic product but they’re struggling with a funding gap because banks still favour corporate lending quite heavily,” Creation Capital CEO Kasief Isaacs said in an interview.

“This fund is squarely aimed at starting to address that gap in a more structured and meaningful