African Infrastructure Fund Closes At $954M, Focuses On Digital And Energy Sectors

African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) has successfully closed its fourth pan-African infrastructure fund, African Infrastructure Investment Fund 4 (AIIF4). 

The fund reached its hard cap with $748 million in commitments and an additional $206 million in co-investments, totaling $954 million. 

“Given the challenging global fundraising environment, we are delighted to have outperformed the targeted fund size,” said Paul Frankish, AIIM’s Head of Strategic Initiatives according to Shoppe Black.

“We received strong support from our existing investor base with a high level of re-ups from the supporters of our previous mandates which served to anchor the fundraising.”

Diverse and Strategic Investor Base

AIIF4’s commitments were secured from 29 investors across various regions: 25% from institutional investors in Africa, 42% from EU countries and the UK, 14% from Canada and the USA, and 17% from the Middle East and Asia. 

The diverse investor base includes pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, and family offices. 

Notably, 50% of commitments came from Development Finance Institution (DFI) investors, highlighting the fund’s appeal to entities focused on sustainable and impactful investments.

Focusing on Key Sectors

AIIF4 will continue AIIM’s strategy of investing in sustainable infrastructure across Africa, with a focus on three key sectors: Digital Infrastructure, Energy Transition, and Mobility and Logistics. 

The fund has already committed over 60% of its capital across seven platforms, providing investors with early visibility of the strategy and performance.

“In developing the strategy we have focused on key themes which provide investors with long-term growth driven by structural deficits and secular tailwinds rather than volatile macro-economic cycles,” said Olusola Lawson, AIIM’s Managing Director and Co-CEO.

“This includes digital infrastructure, to capitalize on the surge in data consumption across the continent; energy transition, to address the chronic shortage of affordable power and the associated productivity losses for Africa’s corporates; and transport, ports, and logistics, to meet the demands for moving goods and people through the world’s most rapidly urbanizing cities.”

The fund is also a 2X Challenge Fund, promoting gender diversity across investment and portfolio management teams. 

Feature Image Credit: CityWire