The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) plans to step up its infrastructure financing in Africa with a new asset management division, AFC Capital Partners. Its debut offering, the Infrastructure Climate Resilient Fund (ICRF) is planning to raise $500m within the next twelve months and $2bn over the next three years.
The fund will act as a direct investor and a co-investment fund to support key projects across the continent such as ports, roads, bridges, rail, telecommunications, clean energy, and logistics.
The AFC has made it clear that sustainable infrastructure will be at the core of its activities by appointing Ayaan Zeinab Adams as the CEO of AFC Capital Partners. She is the former head of the private sector arm of the Green Climate Fund under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as a former CIO and Senior Manager of the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Ayaan played a key role in building the mandate of the Green Climate Fund Private Sector Facility and rapidly scaled its portfolio within three years to US$2.1 billion invested across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She also previously also served as UK-based CDC Group’s Managing Director of Africa Funds.