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Africa50, a Morocco-based infrastructure investment fund, aims to more than double the value of the projects it backs to at least $20bn (R319bn) over the next five years, its COO says.Established by African leaders in 2015, the fund has co-invested in 36 projects across power, transport, logistics and other sectors, with a combined value of about $9bn.“We are really looking to see how, at least over the next several years, we can look to double or triple that number from a value perspective,” Tshepidi Moremong, the COO of the Casablanca-based fund, said in an interview on Monday.According to Moremong, Africa50 has invested about $500m of equity in those projects and plans to focus on sectors with significant funding gaps, including power generation and transmission.“$20bn and above is what we would like to see,” Moremong said, referring to the total value of projects co-invested by the fund over the next five years.In December Africa50 signed an agreement with India’s PowerGrid and the Kenyan government to develop $311m of high-voltage electricity lines under a public-private partnership. The fund has also invested in: power-generation projects in Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon and Madagascar;an ICT project in Rwanda; and regional health-care businesses.Africa faces an annual infrastructure financing gap of more than $100bn, according to the African Development Bank, a shortfall that has been exacerbated by declining overseas development funding from wealthier countries.Africa50 also operates a model under which it leases and runs infrastructure assets, providing governments with upfront payments. It has struck a deal to run the Senegambia bridge linking Senegal with Gambia, collecting tolls in exchange for maintenance, upgrading the bridge and making lump-sum payments. That business line could eventually account for as much as a fifth or a quarter of Africa50’s portfolio, Moremong said.Reuters
