European Investment Bank (EIB Global) has invested €25 million into Amethis Fund III, a pan- African fund providing private equity growth capital to medium sized companies on the continent.
- •Amethis Fund III will target companies supplying goods and services to low and middle-income populations in Africa.
- •The target sectors include healthcare, business services such as logistics & IT, manufacturing and distribution including agribusiness and fast-moving consumer goods, non-banking financial services, and services related to infrastructure and energy.
- •The fund will focus on gender equality, sustainable employment – with a particular emphasis on health coverage, and climate considerations.
“The EIB is happy to support Amethis in its effort to invest in small companies in low- and middle-income countries across Africa. African enterprises still don’t have enough patient equity capital they need for them to grow, which is what our partnership with funds like Amethis seek to address.” EIB Vice President, Thomas Ostros commented on the deal.
According to EIB, climate change could wipe out 15% of Africa’s gross domestic product by 2030, which would mean an additional 100 million people living in extreme poverty by the end of the decade.
Further, the African Development Bank says Africa currently receives only 3% of global climate finance flows. With the scarcity of public funding, the role of public private partnerships is to mobilise climate finance at scale. Multilateral Development Banks, like the European Investment Bank, work in different markets through innovative solutions that de-risk and crowd in private capital.
Over the last decade the, European Investment Bank has provided more than €32 billion for green energy, water, urban, education, agriculture, telecom, health and business investment in 40 countries across the continent.
This included a €10 million investment in Benin in 2022, which brings low-carbon solar energy to 600,000 people; in Uganda, a €12.5 million investment in ENGIE, which brought 1.4 million Ugandans access to reliable and affordable off-grid solar energy; a €10 million investment in Madagascar that helped WeLight give 45,000 households solar energy.
Last year, the EIB invested over €350 million in equity funds operating across the African continent. This brings the overall investment in funds to nearly €3 billion, providing financing (equity and/or debt) to over 2,000 investees. A majority of these investments have been in the climate action and environment sustainability sectors.
EIB also signed a US$ 40 million investment deal with Acre Export Finance Fund I during the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi last year, to invest in climate infrastructure across Africa.
12 years after its creation, Amethis has supported the growth of more than 30 African companies employing directly more than 40,000 people.
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