ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investments Limited (“ARM-Harith”), a leading pan-African private equity fund manager focused on sustainable energy and infrastructure investment, has announced the first close of its Successor Fund, a climate transition Fund (the “Fund”) at ~US$76 million equivalent.
The Fund is the first integrated multi-currency blended finance platform purpose-built for African institutional investors, denominated in both US dollars and local currency within a single structure for investment into infrastructure equity. Targeting US$200 million at final close, it is designed to unlock African institutional capital at scale and accelerate investment in energy transition and climate resilientinfrastructure across Sub-Saharan Africa.
This structural innovation directly addresses one of the most persistent barriers to African infrastructure investment: the mismatch between hard currency fund structures and the local currency revenues generated by the assets they finance. By integrating a more dynamic currency profile from the outset, the Fund mitigates currency risk at project level and enables greater domestic institutional investors’ participation, particularly pension funds on terms aligned with their own balance sheets and regulatory frameworks, while international and other investors with access to hard currency retain US dollar exposure.
The first close is anchored by a combined US$20 million of catalytic capital from FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) through its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA). This capital is designed to de-risk participation by domestic pension funds and other institutional investors across the continent, supporting the broader ambition of scaling local capital mobilisation for African infrastructure.
The Fund will be deployed into essential infrastructure projects that deliver real-economy impact and resilient cashflows across climate-resilient assets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaking on the milestone, Rachel More-Oshodi, Chief Executive Officer of ARM-Harith, said:
“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 mobilized into infrastructure equity. 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. This is a fundamental redesign: one that recognizes local market realities, mobilizes domestic savings, attracts international capital, and allocates risk more intelligently. The institutions thatare backing us understand the significance of this shift. They are not only investing in a fund; they are helping to shape a more practical, scalable way to finance the infrastructure Africa needs.”
Joao Duarte Cunha, Manager of AfDB’s Renewable Energy Funds Division, stated, “The successful first close of the ARM-Harith Successor Fund marks a major milestone for renewable energy investment in sub-Saharan Africa. SEFA’s catalytic participation demonstrates the African Development Bank’s commitment to unlocking long-term institutional capital and shows how blended finance can mobilise private investment into sustainable infrastructure.”
On bridging the gap between pension capital and infrastructure equity, Anne-Marie Chidzero, Chief Investment Officer at FSDAi said: “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. Our investment structure was designed to bridge that gap — enabling pension funds to participate in infrastructure equity while remaining fully aligned with their investment objectives and obligations.”
Through its predecessor fund, ARM-Harith financed critical transport infrastructure and over 700 MW of installed power capacity, enabling approximately 22,500 jobs and avoiding an estimated 2.6 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually. The Successor Fund will build on this momentum, targeting projects that deliver strong commercial performance with measurable climate and development impact, contributing to regional integration and sustainable development across the continent.