AFC Capital Partners (ACP), the asset management subsidiary of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), has launched the Infrastructure Climate-Resilient Fund Nigeria (ICRF Nigeria), a new platform designed to bring more Nigerian institutional capital into climate-resilient infrastructure projects in Nigeria and across Africa.
The initiative could help address two major challenges facing the continent: the need for more infrastructure financing and the growing risks that climate change poses to infrastructure. By creating a dedicated investment route for pension fund administrators, insurers, asset managers and other institutional investors, ICRF Nigeria aims to connect long-term domestic savings with long-term infrastructure needs.
Registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a closed-end fund, ICRF Nigeria will invest in a diversified portfolio of commercially viable, high-impact infrastructure projects.
Turning African Savings into Infrastructure Investment
The fund is part of ACP’s wider US$750 million Infrastructure Climate-Resilient Fund (ICRF), which is designed to build climate resilience into infrastructure from planning and design through construction and operation.
The launch also reflects a wider effort to make better use of Africa’s domestic capital. AFC President and CEO Samaila Zubairu said the continent has more than US$4 trillion in domestic resources, including significant pools of capital held by pension funds, insurers and sovereign wealth funds.
“Africa is not short of capital,” Zubairu said. “Yet too much of this wealth remains invested in low-risk, short-term instruments rather than being channeled into productive sectors such as infrastructure, industry and innovation.”
He said the opportunity was to create investment vehicles that connect Africa’s long-term savings with its development needs. ICRF Nigeria, he added, is intended to do exactly that by allowing Nigerian institutional investors to participate in infrastructure that can support more resilient and sustainable growth.
For Nigerian investors, the fund provides access to projects beyond traditional short-term investments while giving infrastructure developers a larger pool of local capital. ACP CEO Ayaan Adam said the platform is designed to make this connection more practical.
“ICRF Nigeria gives Nigerian institutional investors a dedicated route into high-quality, climate-resilient infrastructure investments across Nigeria and Africa,” Adam said.
She added that combining institutional capital with AFC’s infrastructure expertise and blended finance could help address infrastructure financing needs while responding to the increasing risks associated with climate change.
Financing Infrastructure for a Changing Climate
The wider ICRF has attracted participation from major international and African institutions, including a US$253 million first-loss commitment from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), its largest equity investment in Africa to date. Other investors include the European Investment Bank (EIB), Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and several African pension funds.
ACP expects the fund to mobilise up to US$3.7 billion in total financing and develop a portfolio of 10 to 12 infrastructure projects across Africa.
The fund will focus on sectors considered important to the continent’s economic development, including renewable energy, transport and logistics, digital infrastructure and industrial development. Projects will be assessed for physical climate risks, such as extreme weather, as well as transition risks linked to emissions and climate policy.
The use of blended finance is central to the strategy. By combining concessional and commercial capital with targeted de-risking mechanisms, ICRF aims to make projects more attractive to private and institutional investors.
The Green Climate Fund will also provide first-loss capital and technical assistance for climate risk assessment and monitoring, helping reduce investment risks and attract additional institutional funding.
Adam said the approach would also give Nigeria’s long-term savings a role in supporting infrastructure development across the continent while providing investors with access to a diversified portfolio.
“Importantly, this creates an avenue for Nigeria’s long-term savings to contribute to infrastructure development while giving investors access to a diversified portfolio of opportunities across the continent,” she said.
The initiative builds on AFC’s experience in African infrastructure. Established in 2007, AFC now has 48 member countries and has invested more than US$20 billion across 36 African countries in sectors including energy, natural resources, heavy industry, transport and telecommunications.
ACP, which is wholly owned by AFC, was established to turn that infrastructure expertise and investment track record into products for third-party institutional investors. Through ICRF Nigeria, the organisation is seeking to bring more domestic capital into projects that can strengthen infrastructure and support Africa’s longer-term economic growth.
