An African development fund supported by the UK government and others has chosen Investec Asset Management to manage and enlarge its portfolio of infrastructure investments.
The $670 million Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, which is also supported by the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland governments as well as private sector banks and development groups, provides debt finance in sub-Saharan Africa. It has committed $1.2 billion to 63 private infrastructure projects in sectors such as power, gas infrastructure, telecommunications, sustainable energy, cement manufacturing and steel recycling.
The fund was formerly managed by Frontier Markets Fund Managers, owned by Harith General Partners, an infrastructure manager with offices in Johannesburg and Cote d’Ivoire.
Investec Asset Management, which was founded in South Africa in 1991, won a tender involving 30 companies for the mandate to identify projects, evaluate loan requests, carry out due diligence and administer transactions for the fund.
“The appointment of Investec as the fund’s manager means that we now have the final element in place to power our growth strategy,” says David White, chair of the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund.
“The people responsible for [our] recent success will continue their outstanding work at Investec, which is inheriting a team that is greatly respected, deeply knowledgeable and uniquely skilled.”
Nazmeera Moola of Investec will lead the team managing the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund alongside Emilio Cattaneo, the fund’s executive director.
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