Allianz finances African infrastructure projects by investing into Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF)

Allianz is providing financing of 75 million euros and $25 million, both over 12 years, as EAIF’s first insurance-investor. The EAIF debt financing is the second Emerging Markets (EM) blended finance transaction within 12 months, run by Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) on behalf of Allianz Group investing for their insurance portfolios.

This brings the total commitment of Allianz Group to EM blended finance through AllianzGI infrastructure debt platform to over $600 million.

This EAIF investment creates value for Allianz’s insurance customers and fits excellently into the international investment strategy of Allianz Group. The African continent offers positive long term growth outlook driven by factors such as favorable demographics, an expanding middle-class and urbanization.

EAIF is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), a donor-backed organisation that encourages private sector infrastructure investment in the world’s lowest-income countries. PIDG blends public and private finance to reduce investment risk, promote economic development and combat poverty. Allianz’s investment in EAIF marks the start of PIDG’s drive to attract greater levels of funding from institutional and commercial sources.

Nazmeera Moola, Head of EAIF’s fund manager, Investec Asset Management, says, “Bringing the vision and support of a lender of Allianz’s calibre on board represents a milestone in terms of mobilizing private capital into infrastructure projects across the continent. This debt raising exemplifies the gains to be made from PIDG’s blended finance approach. IAM has a successful track record of co-investing private and public funds side by side in both private credit and private equity funds in Africa.”

“We believe in Africa’s growth potential and will invest across different asset classes across the continent. The partnership with EAIF and Investec Asset Management is an important contribution to this initiative and illustrates how to create attractive risk-return profiles with the necessary downside protection for our policyholders,” says Sebastian Schroff, Global Head of Private Debt, Allianz Investment Management.

Nadia Nikolova, Director, Infrastructure Debt at AllianzGI, says: “We are delighted to put our infrastructure debt expertise to work to help facilitate Allianz’s investment strategy in Africa. Over the last five years, our global infrastructure debt platform has invested over 10 billion euros into infrastructure projects across the globe. As Africa unlocks its economic potential, the continent will become increasingly important for institutional investors.”

In addition to Allianz, KfW has again made a key contribution of around $140 million. "We are pleased to expand our commitment to the EAIF. This partnership and the investments in renewable energy and cleaner technologies strengthen economic development across large parts of the African continent and improve the quality of life of those living there," says Helmut Gauges, Head of the Africa/Middle East Directorate at KfW Development Bank.

Since its foundation, EAIF has invested around $1.3 billion, which has been instrumental in attracting over $10.9 billion of private capital investment to over 70 projects in some 22 sub-Saharan countries. The EAIF portfolio has also been mapped against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring that projects can directly, demonstrably and quantifiably contribute to positive impact across the continent.

The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with more than 88 million retail and corporate customers. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing over 650 billion euros on behalf of its insurance customers while our asset managers Allianz Global Investors and PIMCO manage an additional 1.4 trillion euros of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we hold the leading position for insurers in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2017, over 140,000 employees in more than 70 countries achieved total revenue of 126 billion euros and an operating profit of 11 billion euros for the group.

Allianz Global Investors is a diversified active investment manager with a strong parent company and a culture of risk management. With 25 offices worldwide, we provide global investment and research capabilities with consultative local delivery. We have more than 498 billion euros in AuM for individuals, families and institutions worldwide and employ over 690* investment professionals. At Allianz Global Investors, we follow a two-word philosophy: Understand. Act. It describes how we look at the world and how we behave. We aim to stand out as the investment partner our clients trust by listening closely to understand their challenges, then acting decisively to provide them with solutions that meet their needs. AllianzGI’s infrastructure debt team, led by Claus Fintzen, focuses on senior and stable debt investments in the essential infrastructure sector. The team currently has over 10 billion euros under management.

Data as at December 31, 2017 (*Data as at September 30, 2017). 

Investec Asset Management is an independently managed subsidiary of Investec Group. Investec Asset Management is a specialist investment manager, providing a premier range of products to institutional and individual investors. Established in 1991, the firm has been built from start-up into an international business managing more than $141 billion* on behalf of third party clients. The business has grown largely organically from domestic roots in Southern Africa to a position where we proudly serve a growing international client base from the Americas, the UK and Continental Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Africa. We employ over 190 investment professionals. The firm seeks to create a profitable partnership between clients, shareholders and employees, and to exceed expectations for both client service and performance.

*As at end December 2017

The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund provides a variety of debt products to infrastructure projects promoted mainly by private sector businesses in sub-Saharan Africa. Established and substantially funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and Sweden, the German development finance institution, KFW and its Dutch equivalent, FMO. The Fund helps create the infrastructure framework that is essential to sustained economic stability, business confidence, job creation and poverty reduction. It has to date supported nearly 60 infrastructure projects across eight sectors in 21 sub-Saharan African countries.

These assessments are, as always, subject to the disclaimer provided below.

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Sarah Einig
AllianzGI
Phone: +44 020 3246 7846

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Christiane Hach
Allianz
Phone: +49 89 3800 7679

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