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Proparco invests in Acre Export Finance Fund I to scale sustainable infrastructure in Africa
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On the occasion of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Proparco announces a landmark investment in Acre Export Finance Fund I (AEFF I), reinforcing its commitment to innovative financing solutions for sustainable infrastructure across Africa. This strategic move highlights Proparco’s ability to mobilize private capital at scale while supporting high-impact projects that address the continent’s pressing infrastructure needs.
• Proparco is committing EUR 15 million (USD equivalent) in equity to AEFF I, an innovative fund designed to support essential infrastructure projects across Africa. This operation follows the fund’s successful first closing in April 2024, which raised USD 100 million with the active support of the European Investment Bank.
• This investment is expected to generate a strong catalytic effect, mobilizing a total of USD 50.6 million, representing a leverage of 2.9 times Proparco’s contribution.
• The initiative is expected to deliver significant development impacts, particularly in access to essential services through resilient infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Addressing Africa’s infrastructure financing gap
Africa’s infrastructure financing needs are estimated by the African Development Bank at over USD 100 billion per year, covering sectors such as energy, water, sanitation, information technologies, and transport. This figure would need to double to fully address social infrastructure and climate adaptation challenges.
Export finance—amounting to USD 35.2 billion in 2020—represents a key part of the solution, yet remains constrained in scale. In this context, AEFF I offers an innovative approach to accelerate infrastructure development and overcome regulatory and insurance-related bottlenecks.
An innovative fund supporting essential services
AEFF I focuses on infrastructure projects delivering essential services to underserved populations. The fund participates in export credit facilities arranged with African sovereigns, complementing the commercial tranches of financing structures.
By doing so, AEFF I helps facilitate the completion and scaling of projects that might otherwise face barriers, thereby enabling faster delivery of critical infrastructure in sectors such as energy, water, transport, and digital services.
A strong alignment with Proparco’s strategy
The project is fully aligned with Proparco’s mandate and contributes directly to its strategic objective of “Investing in a sustainable and resilient economy.” The fund targets sectors with high development impact, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa.
It also generates significant catalytic effects by mobilizing additional financing in partnership with export credit agencies (ECAs such as BPI for France), reinforcing blended finance alongside commercial banks active on the export finance sector, including African and French major banks.
Strong development impacts
Acre Impact Capital delivers strong development impact by addressing Africa’s critical infrastructure and climate financing gaps through a scalable, market-based approach. By financing the pivotal commercial tranche of export credit agency–backed projects, the fund unlocks infrastructure investments that expand access to essential services - while mobilizing significant volumes of private capital. Each investment is designed to support underserved populations and enhance climate resilience, with rigorous integration of climate risk, emissions tracking, and alignment with national climate commitments. Through this model, Acre not only delivers market-rate returns but also contributes to systemic change by crowding in institutional investors and accelerating the transition toward climate-aligned infrastructure across the continent.