African Development Bank, Africa50 and the Newly Launched African Sovereign Investors Forum Signal Strong Desire to Jointly Mobilize Capital for Infrastructure Projects

23 June 2022
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African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

Africa50, the African Development Bank, and Africa Sovereign Investors Forum (ASIF), have signed a letter of intent to collaborate on developing green and climate resilient infrastructure projects across Africa. The three entities will work together to galvanize financing and to drive the development of skills and expertise within the infrastructure sector.

The signing took place on 20 June 2022 in Rabat, Morocco, during an event to launch the Africa Sovereign Investors Forum. Under the high patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of the Kingdom of Morocco, 10 African sovereign investors agreed to set up the Forum. The newly formed platform will accelerate coordination to mobilize patient capital for the continent's development.

The signatories are Agaciro Development Fund of Rwanda, Fonds Souverain de Djibouti, Fonds Gabonais d'Investissements Stratégiques (FGIS), Fonds Souverain d'Investissements Stratégiques (FONSIS) of Senegal, Fundo Soberano de Angola (FSDEA), Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Ithmar Capital (Morocco), Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE).

African Development Bank Vice-President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization Solomon Quaynor signed on behalf of the Bank. Africa50 CEO Alain Ebobissé signed for his organization. and Ithmar Capital CEO Obaid Amrane, who will serve as the inaugural chair of ASIF, signed on the new initiative's behalf.

Quaynor said: "The African Development Bank's partnership with ASIF and Africa50 would enable stronger collaborations on project development and co-financing, mobilization of capital to fund resilient, green and sustainable infrastructure and identification of investment opportunities to promote Africa's infrastructure and industrialization.

This is a key part of the Bank's strategy to harness the estimated $2 trillion of assets under management from African institutional investors including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and insurance companies for the continent's infrastructure and industrialization," he said.

Ebobissé said: "this is an important step to building strong collaboration between the right stakeholders to meet the substantial infrastructure financing needs of Africa. We must make key regional infrastructure projects attractive and bankable for both global and African private investors and today's signing will go a long way to address the continent's infrastructure deficit.

It is therefore important that we leverage the strength of the African sovereign wealth funds on the continent, who manage significant domestic savings, to drive the growth of Africa's economies through the development and successful implementation of strategic infrastructure".

Amrane said "ASIF main objective is to accelerate the development of investment opportunities and to mobilize patient capital. As sovereign investors, we see strong complementarities with African Development Bank and Africa50, especially that our visions are aligned with regard to project preparation and capital mobilization. We are pleased today to formalize ASIF, AfDB and Africa50's mutual desire to collaborate together, for we have a common objective to foster investment in climate resilient projects, among others, according to our respective mandate."

The collaboration agreement will also seek to address the identification and preparation of projects, a critical successful factor in attracting financing into any projects.

About Africa50:

Africa50 is an infrastructure investment platform that contributes to Africa's growth by developing and investing in bankable projects, catalyzing public sector capital, and mobilizing private sector funding, with differentiated financial returns and impact. Africa50 currently has 31 shareholders, comprised of 28 African countries, the African Development Bank, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), and Bank Al-Maghrib. For more information, visit: www.africa50.com.

Africa Sovereign Investors Forum 2022: Solomon Quaynor, Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure & Industrialization

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

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