Pan-African private equity firm has raised approximately $76 million in the first close of its climate transition successor fund, marking a significant step toward mobilising institutional capital for infrastructure development across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The fund, which is targeting a final close of $200 million, has been designed to support investments in climate-resilient infrastructure and energy transition projects while addressing long-standing financing challenges in African markets.
According to the company, the vehicle is Africa’s first integrated multi-currency blended finance fund for infrastructure equity investments, enabling investors to commit capital in both U.S. dollars and local currencies through a single investment platform.
ARM-Harith said the structure was developed to tackle one of the continent’s most persistent infrastructure financing problems—the mismatch between hard-currency investment funds and the local-currency revenues typically generated by infrastructure assets.
By combining local and foreign currency investments, the fund aims to reduce exchange-rate risks at the project level while creating opportunities for greater participation by domestic institutional investors, particularly pension funds whose liabilities are largely denominated in local currencies.
The first close was anchored by a combined $20 million in catalytic capital provided by FSD Africa Investments and African Development Bank through its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa.
The firm said the support would help de-risk investments and encourage pension funds and other institutional investors to allocate more capital to infrastructure projects across the continent.
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| Chief Executive Officer of ARM-Harith, Rachel More-Oshodi |
“This first close is both an achievement and an inflection point for ARM-Harith. With our first fund, we demonstrated that domestic institutional capital can be mobilised into infrastructure equity.”
She added:
“With this successor fund, we are building on that foundation by bringing local and hard-currency capital together within a single platform, better aligning the structure of the capital with the realities of African infrastructure assets.”
According to More-Oshodi, the initiative is designed to strengthen the mobilisation of domestic savings, attract international investors and improve how risk is allocated across infrastructure projects.
“This is a fundamental redesign, one that recognises local market realities, mobilises domestic savings, attracts international capital, and allocates risk more intelligently.”
The African Development Bank described the first close as an important development for renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure financing in the region.
The Manager of the bank’s Renewable Energy Funds Division, Joao Duarte Cunha, said:
“The successful first close of the ARM-Harith Successor Fund marks a major milestone for renewable energy investment in sub-Saharan Africa.”
He noted that the bank’s participation demonstrates how blended finance structures can attract private-sector investment into critical infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, the Chief Investment Officer of FSD Africa Investments, Anne-Marie Chidzero, argued that one of the biggest barriers to infrastructure financing has been the lack of investment products tailored to the needs of pension funds.
“The constraint has never been capital itself, but the absence of investment products structured to meet pension funds’ liability-matching needs, particularly around tenure, risk allocation and currency alignment.”
She explained that the new structure was specifically designed to allow pension funds to invest in infrastructure equity while remaining aligned with their long-term obligations and investment strategies.
ARM-Harith said proceeds from the fund will be directed toward projects that strengthen climate resilience, support Africa’s energy transition and promote sustainable economic growth.
The company noted that its predecessor fund financed major transport and power infrastructure projects, including more than 700 megawatts of installed electricity capacity. According to ARM-Harith, those investments helped create approximately 22,500 jobs and contributed to the avoidance of an estimated 2.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
Building on that record, the successor fund is expected to support projects that advance regional integration, sustainable development and climate adaptation efforts across Sub-Saharan Africa.