Africa Investor and Africa50 Partner to Co-Host African CEO Project Developers Summit

2 May 2017
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African Development Bank (Abidjan)

Africa investor (Ai), the international investment and communications group, and Africa50, the pan-African infrastructure fund, in partnership with the African Development Bank, will co-host the 3rd Ai CEO Infrastructure Project Developers Summit on May 3 in Durban, South Africa. The Summit will bring together CEO's of leading project development companies, infrastructure financiers, and institutional investors to explore opportunities and innovative models to facilitate finance and investment in infrastructure project development in Africa.

While the continent is estimated to have an annual infrastructure financing gap of at least $50 billion, there is no shortage of capital available for viable, bankable projects. The challenge is creating the environment to encourage investors and project developers to take reasonable risks, and to engage effectively with public and private institutions that participate in the financing and development of projects at early stages.

Entitled, Establishing Project Development as an Asset Class, this unique CEO-level Summit will bring together over 200 key decision makers from across Africa's project development and early stage finance community. They will discuss how to strengthen the project development ecosystem in Africa to better facilitate and unlock developer finance, and foment investment and co-development partnerships. For the first time, the event will bring together leading US and African pension and sovereign wealth fund investors, along with development finance institutions, who will explore how to participate as venture or anchor investors in corporatized African project development platforms and funds.

Commenting on the Summit, Hubert Danso, CEO and Vice Chairman of Africa investor said, "Ai pioneered this first African project developer platform over three years ago. We brought together the African project development and early-stage finance community to explore co-development and co-investment partnerships. We are delighted to have contributed to the marked increase in venture and private equity-style investment into African private sector-led project development platforms, from both international and domestic investors, as well as development banks.' He added, "we are therefore pleased to partner for this event with the continent's leading infrastructure project development and investment platform, Africa50."

"There is substantial regional and global interest in African infrastructure today," said Alain Ebobisse, CEO of Africa50. "However, one of the biggest challenges we see is that too few projects are ready to receive commercial financing. We want to encourage a greater focus on project development and the enabling environment for bankable projects, allowing modern infrastructure to be built more rapidly."

Along with the African Development Bank, the Summit is supported by IFC InfraVentures, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the Long Term Infrastructure Investors Association (LTIIA), the Global Listed Infrastructure Organisation (GLIO), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Project Finance Association (IPFA), the Berne Union, the ICA Project Preparation Facilities Network, Global Infrastructure Basel, the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), Frost & Sullivan, the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC), the association of Consulting Engineers of South Africa (CESA), and Quadrant PR.

Africa investor is a specialist investment and communications firm advising governments, international organisations and businesses on infrastructure investments and strategies for capital market and foreign direct investments in Africa. Africa investor publishes Africa investor, the leading international news stand magazine for Africa's investment decision makers; maintains the Africa investor 40 Investors' Index, runs an awards franchise of annual Ai CEO Institutional Investor Summits and events and hosts the Ai African Infrastructure Project Developers Forum.

About the Ai African Project Developers Forum - www.aidevelopersforum.com

Launched at the Ai Infrastructure Project Developers Summit, the Ai African Project Developers Forum is a pan-African network of over 200 infrastructure project developers and early-stage financiers that share and publish thought leadership, promote best practice, discuss co-development opportunities and are committed to improving the business environment for project developers and financiers in Africa.

About Africa50 - www.africa50.com

Africa50 is an infrastructure fund owned by African governments, the African Development Bank, and institutional investors. Its mission is to mobilize long term savings from within and outside Africa and private sector funding to promote infrastructure development in Africa.

Read the original article on African Development Bank (AfDB).

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