African Development Bank, AfDB, has invested N3.2 billion in Nigeria’s new infrastructure private equity fund, ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund.
AfDB said the gesture is part of the organisation’s effort to help address lack of efficient infrastructure which is a major obstacle to doing business in West Africa.
“The lack of efficient infrastructure is a major obstacle to doing business in West Africa. Better infrastructure in the region would create an enabling environment for economic growth by competitiveness of local production, promoting foreign direct investments and facilitating trade. The level of investment required for infrastructure development is far in excess of public and donor resources. The AfDB support to ARMHIF will catalyse further resources necessary to develop infrastructure projects,” AfDB said in a statement.
Reacting to the gesture, Mouhamadou Niang, Acting Director of the AfDB’s private sector department said, “The bank’s support to ARMHIF will contribute towards delivery of modern and reliable infrastructure that will reduce the cost of doing business and enhance the region’s competitiveness.”
On his part, Managing Director, ARM Infrastructure, Opuiyo Oforiokuma, said,
“We are very pleased to have an institution of the calibre of the AfDB as an anchor investor in our new Fund. AfDB has been instrumental in attracting the interest of other investors, including Nigerian Pension Funds, a sector that has a significant role to play in providing long term capital for funding infrastructure development in Nigeria and beyond. We see tremendous infrastructure investment opportunities throughout West Africa. Having the equity capital to deploy is an important part of the equation.”
ARM-HIF has been set up to invest, through equity, in infrastructure projects and companies across West Africa, with a focus on Nigeria. The Fund will invest in assets across a range of infrastructure including energy, transport, ICT, water and other utilities. ARMHIF is sponsored by Asset and Resource Management Company Ltd (ARM), a leading Nigerian non-bank financial services company established in 1994 and currently managing over US$ 2.7 billion of assets. ARM has formed a partnership with Harith General Partners (Harith), an experienced infrastructure investment manager on the continent, to manage the Fund. Harith already manages the US$ 630 million Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund (PAIDF).
