Intends to commit up to US$500 million to support impactful businesses and projects in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
India – October 16, 2023 – British International Investment (BII), the UK’s Development Finance Institution (DFI) and impact investor, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Amsterdam-based ILX Management (ILX), an SDG and climate-focused emerging market private debt fund. This MoU is a sign of our shared intent to co-finance up to US$500 million of debt transactions to facilitate long-term sustainable development across developing economies and low-income countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
BII and ILX will invest across a broad range of sectors, including renewable energy, infrastructure, financial services, manufacturing, and agribusiness, to increase the flow of capital into impactful businesses and projects.
This new partnership will enable both parties to leverage each other’s expertise and provide additional financial firepower across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. ILX and BII will share information on prospective projects, emerging technologies, and financial innovation. They will also establish a roadmap to mobilise private sector capital, specifically focusing on providing institutional investors with greater access to high-impact private debt investment opportunities in scalable businesses that drive productive, sustainable, and inclusive growth.
Nick O’Donohoe, CEO, BII, said: “This partnership has been driven by our shared view of the need to invest to meet the SDGs. It furthers our ambition to create new job opportunities in developing economies and will provide private credit to help bridge the financial gap faced by many businesses. This asset class remains nascent, comprising just 3 percent of private credit globally, and is the natural next step for allocators of global private credit.”
Manfred Schepers, CEO, ILX Management B.V., said, “ILX has already received over US$1 billion in commitments from leading Dutch pension funds and is currently raising a successor fund for a targeted US$2 billion commitment from European pension funds. Working with BII, together we will increase financial capacity for project finance, financial services debt, and private sector debt across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. We have a strong track record of investing alongside the leading multilateral development banks and other development finance institutions in climate and SDG-targeted projects across emerging economies globally and look forward to the opportunities this partnership will bring.”
Andrew Mitchell, UK Minister for Development and Africa, said, “This MoU with ILX is an example of British International Investment’s pioneering approach to mobilising the private finance needed to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I am proud that FCDO provided early-stage funding to ILX, which went on to secure over US$1 billion in commitments to its first investment fund.
This new partnership will mobilise up to US$500m of additional finance for low-income countries across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, improving access to renewable energy and quality infrastructure and helping businesses to thrive.”
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