The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which has more than US$150bn in assets under management, has planned an inaugural investment in the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the continent’s leading infrastructure solutions provider
PIC is set to make a US$100mn equity investment in the AFC which follows recent equity inflows from the Seychelles Pension Fund, the Government of Sierra Leone, the Republic of Togo, the Central Bank of Guinea and further investment from the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund.
AFC has a proven track record of developing key transformational projects on the continent, providing pragmatic solutions for Africa's infrastructure deficit and challenging operating environment.
The corporation recently announced its joint acquisition of Lekela Power, Africa’s biggest renewables independent power producer (IPP), with plans to more than double operating capacity of the operating assets within four years. Other AFC projects include the ARISE Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Gabon, an industrial ecosystem building value from the forestry and minerals industry, which was last year certified as the world’s first carbon neutral industrial zone by the Swiss verification group SGS.
Kabelo Rikhotso, chief investment officer for PIC, commented, “The PIC is delighted to partner with the AFC in the development, industrialisation and growth of the African continent. Our clients’ investment mandates allow us to invest in the rest of the African continent. We believe that this partnership will assist us to deliver on that mandate and to diversify our growing portfolio. We are confident of the future prospect of this investment and its potential positive societal benefits.”
PIC, as a shareholder, will 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.
Samaila Zubairu, AFC president & CEO, said, “This equity investment is a significant vote of confidence in AFC and connects us to a very important source of capital in Africa. African pension funds have a key role to play in financing the instrumental infrastructure urgently needed on the continent and we look forward to a long-term partnership for a prosperous African future.”
