Nigerian off-grid energy investment company, All On, has announced its partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB); the Nordic Development Fund (NDF); Global Environment Facility (GEF); and Calvert Impact Capital (CIC) towards a $58 million first close for the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (OGEF).
OGEF, which is managed by LHGP Asset Management (LHGP), an alternative fund manager with offices in Lagos, London, and Nairobi, is a dedicated debt fund for off-grid energy companies and is part of the AfDB-sponsored Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI). The FEI is a $500 million finance platform designed to provide loan facilities in both local and hard currencies to support innovative energy access companies.
Dr. Akin Adesina, AfDB President said, “Access to electricity is a fundamental human right. That is why the African Development Bank set up the Fund for Energy Inclusion, to support off-grid energy systems. I am delighted that All On and Shell have joined forces with the African Development Bank to invest private capital in this Fund to help accelerate access to electricity in Nigeria. Together we will close the energy access gap in Nigeria and across Africa.”
OGEF achieves its first close with equity and debt commitments of US $58 million from All On, AfDB, NDF, GEF and CIC, and the structuring process and investments build on support from Shell Foundation, DFID and USAID. FEI OGEF has been designed to provide a flexible range of loan facilities in predominantly local currency, to companies in the household energy access sector including distributors, manufacturers, end-user credit providers and other businesses supporting the ecosystem.
According to Wiebe Boer, the CEO of Nigeria-based All On, an off-grid energy impact investment company backed by Shell, “We see OGEF as a great opportunity for public and private investors to work together to address Africa’s significant access to energy gap. We look forward to working with LHGP, especially the Nigeria-based team, to build a solid portfolio of off-grid energy companies that are improving livelihoods by providing affordable power to unserved and underserved communities.”
This first close follows the official launch of FEI at the Africa Energy Market Place (AEMP) on July 5 and 6, 2018, where the initiative was presented to the governments’ representatives of five African countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria and Zambia – as well as leaders from the private sector and the development partner communities.