Who we are

The annual infrastructure funding gap in Africa & Asia is estimated at > $200 billion per annum.

Blended finance is an effective model to mobilise funding at scale. The Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund was launched to raise and deploy public and private debt capital to deliver transformative infrastructure projects across sub-Saharan Africa.

We were the first company established within the Private Infrastructure Development Group, a multi-donor organisation with members from seven countries and the World Bank Group.

Managed by Ninety One, EAAIF is today one of the most successful examples of blended finance. Our anchor shareholders are the UK, Dutch, Swedish and Swiss Governments; we periodically raise debt capital from private investors including Allianz, Standard Bank and DFIs including the AfDB, FMO and KfW. This gives us the stable base, long term outlook and ready resources of the public sector, combined with the imagination, commercial rigour and entrepreneurial drive of the private sector.

For 21 years, we’ve provided flexible, patient capital to a geographically and sectorally diversified portfolio of impactful infrastructure projects in Africa and now also in Asia, worth US$ 2.5bn. We operate in 9 sectors across Africa and Asia and lend between US$ 10 million to US$ 65 million (including in EUR), typically up to 15 years and if required up to 20 years. The projects we support must be commercially sound and deliver significant and measurable socio-economic impact while prioritising health, safety and ESG performance.

Our specialism is investing in frontier economies where without our backing, game-changing projects simply would not happen. The Fund holds an A2 credit rating from Moody’s and has a minimal default rate despite a significant risk appetite. This demonstrates that we can invest in and deliver quality infrastructure in some of the most complex operating environments.