Footprints Education takes 24% of South African maker Penflex
What's the deal? Footprints Education Group (FEG) has acquired a 24% stake in PenflexDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a South African manufacturer of plastic products for domestic and export markets. FEG is an education investment platform wholly owned by Aleyo Growth Fund I.
The terms: FEG bought the 24% interest from Legacy Africa Capital PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (LACP), which took a 60% controlling stake in Penflex in 2021 through its first fund. LACP now retains 25%.
Management steps up: Alongside the deal, Penflex's management team lifted its own shareholding by 11%, raising its position to 51%.
What Penflex does: It is one of only two dedicated pen manufacturers in South Africa and ranks among the largest injection-moulding operations in the Western Cape. Under LACP, it expanded beyond stationery into plastic homeware, office products and window blind components, with a focus on recycled materials.
The rationale: "Penflex is exactly the kind of business FEG seeks to back — a market leader with proven manufacturing capability, a growing product range and clear potential to further expand across Southern Africa and into export markets," said Bafana Molomo, director of FEG.
Why now? FEG's stated mission is to build education value chain assets across Botswana and the wider region. Penflex's stationery and office lines fit that focus.
The signal: The deal shows how African private equity is recycling assets between funds, with LACP partially exiting a business it grew and management deepening its own stake — a sign of confidence in local manufacturing that reduces import reliance and supports job creation.
Read more: Africa Private Equity News
