The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Africa’s infrastructure solutions provider, has received formal notification from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Africa’s asset manager with over $150 billion in assets under management.
The South African pension fund manager’s investment follows recent equity inflows to AFC from the Seychelles Pension Fund, the Government of Sierra Leone, the Republic of Togo, the Central Bank of Guinea, and additional investment from the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund, all of which are among AFC’s 32 equity investors. These investments solidify the active engagement of African sovereigns, financial institutions, and the private sector.
AFC has a track record of developing key transformational projects on the continent, offering practical solutions to Africa’s infrastructure shortfall and demanding operating environment. The Corporation has announced a combined acquisition of Lekela Power, Africa’s largest renewables independent power producer (IPP), with ambitions to more than double operating capacity within four years. Other AFC projects include the ARISE Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Gabon, a forestry and minerals industrial environment that was certified as the world’s first carbon neutral industrial zone by the Swiss verification organization SGS last year.
“The PIC is pleased to partner with the AFC in the development, industrialization, and expansion of the African continent,” said Kabelo Rikhotso, Chief Investment Officer, PIC. “Our clients’ investment mandates enable us to invest in the rest of Africa. We believe that this collaboration will help us deliver on that mission while also diversifying our expanding portfolio. We are optimistic about the future prospects of this investment and its potential societal benefits”.
AFC’s investment footprint spans 35 countries across Africa and a pipeline of projects that blend positive social and environmental impact with superior risk-adjusted returns. The Corporation’s A3 investment-grade rating from Moody’s enables beneficial access to global capital markets and underscores the confidence of Africa’s decision makers in AFC’s role as a key institution for sustainable economic development.
As a shareholder, PIC will further benefit from co-investment opportunities and access to AFC’s formidable project development and risk-mitigated projects on the continent across the power, transport, and logistics, natural resources, telecommunications, and heavy industrial sectors.
“This equity investment is a tremendous vote of confidence in AFC and ties us to a very important source of money in Africa,” says Samaila Zubairu, President and CEO of AFC. “African pension funds can help finance the critical infrastructure needed on the continent, and we look forward to a long-term relationship for a bright African future.”
