A Reuters report says Sub-Saharan Africa Attracted $1.6 billion last year, the highest amount the continent has received in the last five years, with the East Africa region experiencing the biggest increase in deal activity.

However, private equity funds focused on sub-Saharan Africa raised less money year-on-year, with 11 funds taking in 922 million dollars, down 46 per cent from 2012, according to data from the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association.

The amount of capital invested by private equity funds in sub-Saharan Africa in 2013 represented a 43 per cent increase from the previous year, EMPEA said.

The high rate of growth in most countries in the world poorest continent has caught the attention of the attention of investors in the recent years encouraged by rising consumer spending from an emerging middle class.

Increased discovery of natural resources, especially in the east Africa region, has also wetted investors’ appetites for high expected returns. Countries like Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique have discovered huge deposit of oil and gas that they are moving to commercialize in the next half a decade.

Investors are don’t have many option in the stock markets outside South Africa, because of the limited number of listed companies and low liquidity at bourses, and can only get into fast growing sectors like ICT and energy through private equities.

Reuters said deals announced so far this year included an investment in J&J Africa, a Mozambique-based transport firm, by Carlyle Group and the asset management arm of South Africa’s Investec . Standard Chartered also said in January, its private equity arm had taken a 13 per cent stake in Botswana-listed supermarket chain Choppies Enterprises.

“In Sub-Saharan Africa, 2013 was the beginning of a big deployment phase for private equity capital. Such deployment resulted in a drop in fundraising for the region but a five-year high for investment, said Robert van Zwieten, EMPEA’s chief executive.

“A large amount of capital was raised for the region in previous years, and now that capital is being put to work.”

He added that the prospects for 2014 were promising as six funds currently in the market with targets above 500 million dollars have a pan-Sub-Saharan African mandate.

“We anticipate 2014 to be an active year for fundraising in the region,” he said.