Green Climate Fund Puts $140m Behind Climate Fund Managers

By Daniel Okafor

The Green Climate Fund has approved $140 million in catalytic financing for Climate Fund Managers, the largest single number in a week of African private capital headlines tracked by Africa Private Equity News.

The money goes to Climate Investor Three, a global blended finance facility focused on industrial decarbonisation, including green hydrogen infrastructure in Southern Africa. The capital will help the facility mobilise additional private investment towards its $1.2 billion fundraising target.

What cleared the FlySafair deal?

South Africa's Competition Tribunal has approved Harith Aviation Consortium's acquisition of a 100% stake in FlySafair, the low-cost airline. Harith General Partners, a Johannesburg-based infrastructure investor, leads the consortium. FlySafair will keep operating independently under its existing management team.

The approval closes the regulatory path for one of the country's most closely watched aviation transactions.

Which development banks wrote cheques?

Two multilateral institutions disclosed fresh commitments to African funds.

• The International Finance Corporation has proposed an equity investment of up to $15 million in Verod Capital Growth Fund IV, alongside a $10 million co-investment envelope. The fund targets $250 million and will back small and mid-sized companies in West Africa, primarily in Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Cameroon.
• The European Investment Bank, through EIB Global, invested $37.5 million in Egypt's Tanmiya Capital Fund II. The commitment helped the fund reach a final close of $130 million, above its $120 million target.

Tanmiya Capital, an independent Egyptian investment firm, manages the vehicle. It provides growth capital to small and medium-sized companies in Egypt.

The EIB commitment matters beyond its size: it pushed a fund past target at final close in a market where raising institutional capital has been slow.

What is Kenafric doing in venture capital?

Kenyan consumer goods company Kenafric Group has launched Kenafric Ventures, a $10 million corporate venture fund. It will invest between $100,000 and $2 million in early-stage African consumer businesses.

Corporate venture studio S2E Africa manages the fund. FSD Africa provided design support.

What else moved this week?

Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking said it provided an integrated financing solution for Sihamba Sonke Mobility, the new concessionaire appointed to operate, maintain, upgrade and modernise the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link System. The bank calls it landmark concession financing for the next chapter of the commuter rail network.

In Kenya, retailer Quickmart, a portfolio company of Adenia Partners, received regulatory approval for its IPO and listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange in a deal valuing the company at about $230 million. Africa Private Equity News editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz interviewed Martha Osier, a partner at Adenia and Quickmart board member, about the listing.

The Quickmart flotation would rank among the more significant private equity exits on the Nairobi exchange, and it lands in the same week two development banks deepened their African fund commitments — a signal that institutional capital is still finding routes into the continent's mid-market, even at smaller ticket sizes.

Africa Private Equity News, founded in 2014, counts Standard Bank, PwC, Intercontinental Trust, SAVCA and GVCA among its supporters.