Ascent Capital, a new Kenyan based private equity firm, has raised $50 million for investment in a couple of fast growing small and mid-sized firms across east Africa.

David Owino, Ascent’s advisory services partner, said in statement seen by AFKInsider that over 70 percent of the amount raise for its first ever fund dabbed Ascent Rift Valley Fund was from both local and foreign commercial investors .

He added that the PE firm, which has offices in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, will invest between $1 million and $9 million in 12 companies across the region.

For the first time, Kenyan pension funds were able to invest in the PE’s fund raising after the country’s retirement benefits body allowed them to invest in private equity asset class.

“We’re already getting a lot of inquiries on how they (pension funds) can go about investing in private equity”, a spokesperson at Kenya’s Retirements Benefits Authority (RBA), told the Star.

“Previously there was no provision for it in their strategy, but now there’s a lot of interest.”

Through its pension fund Kenya’s main electricity distributor, Kenya Power, put in over $4 million into the new PE fund.

Investing in private equity funds is a fairly new development across Africa, but has been growing in recent years as investors chase higher returns from economies enjoying robust growth on the continent.

“This is the first time in the region that local pension funds have committed to invest in a private equity fund,” Owino said.

“In addition to the local institutional investors, the fund has also attracted significant capital from international investors. Coming on the back of the successful Eurobond milestone, this is another sign that the country’s financial sector has come of age.”