The International Solar Alliance (ISA) announced that, pursuant to public expressions of interest (EOI) sought by the ISA from entities capable of, and interested in, being the investment manager for ISA’s proposed Africa Solar Facility (ASF), it has entered into exclusive discussions with Africa50 to act as the ASF’s Investment Manager.
The ASF, targeted at $200 million, is being launched by the ISA to provide tailor-made and cost-effective financing solutions to unlock and mobilize investments in distributed solar projects in Africa. This is currently an underserved segment due to small ticket sizes and high perceived risk, despite being critical to accelerate timely access to clean energy for millions.
The ASF is the first regional facility under the umbrella of ISA’s Global Solar Facility (GSF) which is aimed at providing financing to help accelerate deployment of distributed solar projects across regions.
Africa50 is a marquee pan-African infrastructure investment and asset management group, with a portfolio of $7bn and has mobilized more than $4bn in external funding. With 32 African countries, the African Development Bank and central banks as its shareholders, it has strong convening power coupled with its unique project development capabilities, resulting in a proven track record of identifying, developing, and implementing investments across
Africa.
The ISA and Africa50 see strong synergies and subject to successful conclusion of their discussions and formalization of necessary arrangements, it is expected that Africa50 will be appointed as the ASF’s investment manager.