African infrastructure investment fund announces closing value
18 October 2011
The African Infrastructure Investment Fund 2 has announced its final closing value, with $500 million (£317 million) secured from investors.
The fund, which will focus on infrastructure equity investments in sub-Saharan Africa, is promoted and advised by African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM).
Having reached a close of $320 million in March 2010, the extra funds will now go towards core infrastructure projects such as road building initiatives, airport construction, power and telecommunications deployment, and rail and port developments.
AIIM chief executive Andrew Johnstone said that the investment is indicative of the fact that Africa is "climbing up the agenda of investors".
"We have a strong pipeline of potential opportunities under detailed review, primarily in the transport and energy sectors," he said, adding that the fund has already committed almost a quarter of its capital to those areas.
The African Development Bank recently gave a loan of $125 million to Ethiopia for the construction of its Mombasa-Nairobi-Addis road link.