The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) on Tuesday announced that it had successfully completed its latest fundraising round, raising US$385 million in new long-term debt capital to invest in Africa.
The EAIF, which is managed by Investec Asset Management (IAM), said that the new funds would be used over the next five years to continue its core strategy of mobilising private sector capital for investment in infrastructure projects, mainly in fragile states.
EAIF is able to invest in eight infrastructure sectors and is now well established as a skilled provider of debt to solar and renewable power projects, in addition to areas like transport, water and telecommunications.
In 2017 alone EAIF provided finance to independent power producers that will bring 90MW of new solar power to Africa, representing some 50 percent of EAIF's loans portfolio. Since 2015, it has backed renewables projects in Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda and Uganda.
EAIF is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), a donor-backed organisation that encourages private sector infrastructure investment in the world’s lowest-income countries. For the first time, EAIF has attracted a large commercial institutional investor in global insurer Allianz Investment Management.
"We believe in Africa’s growth potential and will invest across different asset classes across the continent," said Sebastian Schroff, global head of private debt at Allianz.
"The partnership with EAIF and Investec Asset Management is an important contribution to this initiative and illustrates how to create attractive risk and return profiles with the necessary downside protection for our policyholders."
As a returning lender to EAIF, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is providing a total of US$75 million over 10 years. Standard Chartered Bank is increasing and extending its existing lending to US$50 million.
Underlining its continuing support, the German development bank KFW is contributing US$50 million and €75 million, both over 12 years, and the Dutch development finance institution FMO is lending US$50 million over 10 years.
