$40 million European Investment Bank (EIB) backing for Acre Impact Capital’s innovative private debt fund to accelerate climate infrastructure investment across Africa

Export finance delivers long-term debt financing guaranteed by official export credit agencies (“ECAs”). Export finance allows project sponsors to significantly reduce the cost of debt by both obtaining very attractive funding on the ECA backed financing and obtaining long-term financing of up to 22 years. In doing so, ECAs can significantly enhance project affordability for the project sponsor and crowd-in private capital.

      The new fund invests in shorter tenor commercial debt tranches where typically 15% or more of the value of the project which need to be in place before ECAs can support the remaining 85%.

      Whilst commercial banks generally fund the tranche guaranteed by an ECA, the availability of funding on the commercial debt tranche has been increasingly limited with the situation worsening since the COVID-19 pandemic

      By providing specialist funding for this tranche, the Fund will unlock transactions and could mobilise $5.6 of private sector capital for each dollar invested.

About European Investment Bank: