AFRIGREEN Debt Impact Fund, a fund managed by RGreen Invest, which is dedicated to providing long-term debt solutions to finance commercial and industrial (C&I) solar and small-size utility scale solar power plants in Africa, has successfully reached its target of raising €100 million.
RGreen Invest – which manages the fund, together with Echosys Invest – which structured and advises the fund, announced the successful final closing of the AFRIGREEN Debt Impact Fund last week.
According to RGreen Invest, the fund will invest in small and mid-sized solar projects that enable businesses in Africa to reduce their energy costs, enhance the reliability of their power supply, and lower their greenhouse gas emissions.
“This final closing represents a major milestone for RGREEN INVEST and for the energy transition financing in Africa. It is a huge success for an impact fund and more broadly for a first-time fund,” said Nicolas Rochon, Founder & CEO of RGreen Invest.
“We are proud to collaborate with international institutional and private investors committed to supporting the continent’s sustainable development. Working alongside these highly qualified partners is an inspiration in terms of ESG & Impact best practices, and we have expanded these highest environmental & social standards across all investments and funds managed by RGreen Invest,” Rochon added.
RGreen Invest highlighted that the AFRIGREEN Debt Impact Fund already has 6 investments successfully completed in Nigeria, Morocco and Botswana. The fund is targeting to have a portfolio of between 15 to 20 projects, with granular and diversified financing tickets ranging up to €15 million, and an average investment period of up to 10 years.
The AFRIGREEN Debt Impact Fund benefitted from the support of leading international financial institutions, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC – World Bank Group), FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, PROPARCO (French Development Agency Group), the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), as well as private investors such as Société Générale and BNP Paribas.
“We are deeply honored by the trust of our investors and excited to expand our capital deployment in the region. AFRIGREEN’s initial investments have confirmed the growing demand for capital among project developers and operators who are successfully persuading commercial and industrial companies in Africa to transition to solar power through power purchase agreements,” said Olivier Leruste, Co-Founder & CEO of Echosys Invest.
“These investments have also highlighted a significant pipeline of utility-scale projects under 30 MW that are ready to connect to national grids without requiring major transmission upgrades. With the right project finance solutions implemented swiftly and pragmatically, construction can begin immediately. This is precisely what we aim to achieve with AFRIGREEN,” concluded Leruste.
