Africa investor (Ai), a leading international investment and communications group, yesterday successfully closed the Africa investor (Ai) CEO Infrastructure Investment Summit and Awards in Abuja, Nigeria, which gathered over 200 domestic pension and sovereign wealth fund leaders and global and domestic infrastructure investors, project developers and regulators.
The Summit was opened by Hubert Danso, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Africa investor, and Ambassador Michel Arrion, Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria. The keynote address was delivered by His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya.
In his address, President Kenyatta stated that, in other parts of the developing world, notably in China, massive investments in infrastructure had established the backbone for economic activities, such as manufacturing, which in turn fuelled economic growth. A similar path lies open for African countries. He went on to say: “In addition, the LAPPSET project – where Kenya is seeking partnership with the private sector to jointly build a highway, an oil pipeline, a railway line and a seaport at Lamu connecting the new Republic of South Sudan and Ethiopia – holds great investment potential.” He said, for business, the infrastructure deficit in Africa is an opportunity to do well by doing right.
Over the last decade, the Ai CEO Infrastructure Investment Summit has established itself as the must-attend African platform for the international infrastructure investment community and African public and private sector project sponsors and project developers seeking partnerships and capital for their projects.
The Summit delivered on its four key objectives for the day, which were to deepen relations between African pension and sovereign wealth funds on the policy environment to facilitate and increase investment into infrastructure; to establish a framework to systematically evaluate and share co-investment opportunities; to boost venture capital models to boost African private sector participation in infrastructure, regional infrastructure investment and translate Africa’s infrastructure deficit into an opportunity to deepen Africa’s capital markets – with new innovative instruments and products; and to highlight Africa’s infrastructure investment success stories through the Ai Infrastructure Investment Awards.
In addition, the Summit served to consult and inform the agenda for the annual Ai CEO Institutional Investment Summit at the New York Stock Exchange, during the UN General Assembly in New York in September, and the World Bank-Ai Strategic Bankers’ Dialogue during the upcoming World Bank Annual Meetings.
The Summit hosted a number of dynamic CEO-led discussion panels on mobilising African capital from sovereign wealth funds and pension funds; project development; a special focus on regional projects; transport and energy investment in Africa; a series of project pitches; a dialogue on project preparation, and top PPP opportunities.
Commenting on the Summit, Hubert Danso, CEO and Vice Chairman of Africa investor, said; “Africa’s domestic institutional capital base is set for important growth. Africa’s six largest pension funds by asset size will nearly triple to US $622 billion by 2020, from $260bn in 2010, and by 2050 this could balloon to $7.3 trillion. This is therefore a critical source of capital for infrastructure projects in Africa and this Summit represented a unique platform for this community, and its investment capital, to be profitably channelled into African infrastructure as an investible asset class, capable of creating the jobs we urgently seek and the returns retirees and sovereign states deserve.”
The Summit also hosted the prestigious 2014 Africa investor (Ai) Infrastructure Investment Awards ceremony. The Ai Awards are a platform for investors in Africa’s fast-growing infrastructure sectors to measure and recognise their performance and achievements globally. The Ai Awards showcase the competitiveness of African infrastructure as an internationally investible asset class.
The Summit was co-hosted with the European Union BizClim Facility.
Africa investor would also like to thank all Summit partners, which include: Headline Partner GE Africa, Rand Water, the African Development Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Ecobank, Bolloré Africa Logistics, Tincan Terminal Lagos, ARM Infrastructure, Bunengi Group, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Zuma Energy, the African Business Roundtable, African Union, the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency the World Bank Group, Shoreline Energy, Damac Properties, Africa investor Capital, Quadrant, Guinness, ICRC, AllAfrica.
Note to Editors
For more information on the Ai CEO Infrastructure Investment Summit and Awards, contact Catherine Wright on +27 11 783 2431 or cwright@africainvestor.com.
About Africa investor - www.africainvestor.com
Africa investor is a specialist investment and communications firm advising governments, international organisations and businesses on strategies for capital market and foreign direct investments in Africa. Africa investor publishes Africa investor, the leading international newsstand magazine for Africa’s investment decision makers; maintains the Africa investor 40 Investors’ Index, hosts the Ai Index Series Summit & Awards and the Africa investor Infrastructure Projects Summit & Awards, among other events.
