African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), an infrastructure-focused private equity fund manager, has raised $320 million from investors from Africa, Europe and Asia for big-ticket power, transport & energy projects in Africa.
AIIM recently invested in BBOXX New Generation Utility in Kenya and are shortlisted on the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway PPP. It’s latest raise, African infrastructure fund, AIIF3, makes the cumulative commitments to $2.2 billion over 7 funds and executed more than 56 transactions in target pan-African markets.
According to Jurie Swart, CEO of AIIM: “We are delighted that our investors share our vision for the African infrastructure opportunity and we are grateful to them for placing their trust in our proposition.”
The Fund focuses on mid-market opportunities in these sectors, a space which is less competitive and carries less execution risk than the larger marque deals; gaining exposure to opportunities in countries with high growth prospects but lacking the scale to support mega deals.
AIIM has already made investments across the thermal power, renewable energy, ports & logistics and airports sectors across 12 African countries.
AIIM has closed a number of successful exits from previous funds including the Azura-Edo Power Plant in Nigeria and Kipeto Energy Limited in Kenya. The exit represents the largest exit by a private equity fund in the Nigerian power sector to date.
“We continue to believe that the energy sector in Nigeria holds great potential, and this is evidenced by our recent growth equity investment into Starsight Power Utility, and our commitment to invest in the Uquo Integrated Gas project,” said Olusola Lawson, Head of West Africa at AIIM.
Lawson added that the successful sale of its shareholding in Azura-Edo to existing shareholders also indicates their confidence in the country’s prospects and the future of the power sector and it creates a marker for successful exits to both domestic and international investors in the nascent Nigerian power sector.
This fund epitomises AIIM’s broader investment thesis of building out domestic infrastructure in Africa and driving sustainable economic growth across the region. AIIM’s 2,100MW renewable energy portfolio generated a total of 1,795GWh of clean power last year, offsetting nearly 1 million tonnes of Co2 equivalents and at full generation, AIIM projects will generate around 10% of Nigeria’s on-grid generation, 27% of Mali’s on-grid generation and 17% of Ghana’s on-grid capacity.
AIIM has also announced the appointment of Wanjiku Mugane as a Senior Advisor in Kenya. Based in Nairobi, Wanjiku will be working closely with the AIIM investment team, delivering market insights and supporting the deal pipeline.
Wanjiku is co-founder and Executive Director of Eagle Africa Capital Partners Ltd, a corporate finance advisory and patient capital investing firm. Prior to this, Wanjiku was the East Africa CEO of Standard Chartered Securities and co-founder of First Africa Group, providing cross-border corporate finance advisory.
“Her impressive background paired with her deep understanding of the investment landscape in Kenya, makes her a terrific addition to AIIM as we seek to broaden our capabilities in the region. We are thrilled to welcome her to the team,” added Swart.