PIDG and IFDK join Sanlam in backing the growth of Africa GreenCo’s market-enabling renewable energy platform
Lusaka, Zambia: Pioneering regional energy trader and intermediary off taker, Africa GreenCo, has today announced an additional USD 11.5m investment from its existing shareholders - the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and Impact Fund Denmark (IFDK – formerly IFU). The announcement follows recent news of the entry of new private-sector investor, Sanlam Alternative Investments, one of Africa’s largest institutional investors, bringing the total third close fund raise to USD 21.5m.
Delivered through PIDG’s project development solution, InfraCo, the latest investment complements previous PIDG support provided to Africa GreenCo through its technical assistance, project development, and guarantee capabilities.
Africa GreenCo has been actively trading for almost five years, having gained its membership of the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) in late 2021, which complements its licenses in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa. Since then, growth has been significant, with over 1.4 TWhs traded so far this year. As a bankable off taker for renewable energy Independent Power Producers (IPPs), Africa GreenCo increases energy security and curbs emissions by balancing clean energy services across multiple markets. It also strengthens regional integration through its role as a full market participant in each of SAPP’s competitive markets.
Founder and Group CFO, Pug Bennet, said the following in relation to today’s announcement: “There is no stronger testament to the faith in a business than to see investment from both new and existing shareholders. The additional financial strength provided by these investments, along with the other facilities provided by GuarantCo and the European Commission under their EFSD+ programme, will allow GreenCo to further support the energy transition in the region and act as a key stakeholder in viable energy infrastructure.”
Thomas Hougaard, Managing Director and Co-Head of Green Energy and Infrastructure at IFDK said, "IFDK is a proud shareholder of Africa GreenCo, having supported the company since its first capital raise. In 2025, IFDK further supported Africa GreenCo by helping mobilise a EUR 50 million guarantee facility, enabling the company to attract additional private capital by welcoming Sanlam to the table, and accelerate the energy transition in Southern Africa."
PIDG Head of Business Development (Africa) for InfraCo, Omar Jabri said, “Alongside our long-time partners at IFDK, we are pleased to welcome Sanlam, a company which brings private-sector capital and deep institutional expertise, and to enhance our own support for the next phase of Africa GreenCo’s growth. By scaling its successful model to rapidly transform the region’s renewable energy landscape, Africa GreenCo’s work aligns well with PIDG’s mandate of mobilising infrastructure finance to address the urgency of the climate crisis and promote sustainable economic development.”
Mark Moorhouse, Executive Head of Infrastructure Finance at Sanlam Alternative Investments, the alternative asset manager with Sanlam Investments, added: “Africa GreenCo occupies the part of the energy value chain that determines whether new power generation is ultimately delivered. For us, this is a natural extension of more than a decade of infrastructure investment across the continent: backing the market architecture that allows Africa to finance its own energy transition on commercial terms, while supporting the reliable, increasingly low-carbon power that economic growth depends on. The transaction with Africa GreenCo is aligned with our ambition to become the premier sustainability-led impact investor globally and reinforces our commitment to Africa’s energy transition,” says Moorhouse. “That transition will only scale when the continent has access to its own creditworthy, commercially bankable market infrastructure.”
With demand for electricity growing rapidly, governments across Africa are faced with the challenge of developing a strong pipeline of energy projects which can attract private sector investment whilst also addressing the climate crisis. Africa GreenCo’s model serves as a market-enabling renewable energy platform, supporting both national utilities and energy buyers.
Under its guarantee arrangements with the European Commission-funded EFSD+ programme, PIDG company GuarantCo's support, together with the additional investments made as part of the third close, will strengthen Africa GreenCo's liquidity buffer and risk-bearing capacity, enabling the company to support up to 900MW of renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) and provide the payment security required to make these projects bankable.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
· Through Sanlam Alternative Investments, Sanlam Group – a leading pan-African financial services group with a diversified emerging markets footprint – has deployed more than R17 billion into 40 sustainable infrastructure projects over a decade.
· More detail about PIDG involvement with Africa GreenCo can be found here: Africa GreenCo - PIDG
Africa GreenCo Group (GreenCo): Africa GreenCo (GreenCo) is a pioneering renewable energy trader; accelerating the energy transition across the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) region. GreenCo's innovative model is strengthened by the support of GuarantCo (AA- by Fitch and A1 by Moody's), part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and by an EFSD+ guarantee of the European Union, delivered under the Global Gateway strategy and the Team Europe approach. Further information on the EFSD+ guarantee is available on the European Commission's INTPA website HERE. This support, reinforcing GreenCo's ability to provide bankable payment security solutions and unlock private investment into renewable power infrastructure across Africa in collaboration with state utilities in the region.
Licensed in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, and entering the Democratic Republic of Congo, GreenCo is also an active SAPP market participant and has been for over four years. GreenCo is backed by leading development finance institutions, namely InfraCo Africa (also part of PIDG) and Impact Fund Denmark and more recently by Sanlam Alternative Investments (Sanlam). Sanlam is GreenCo's first private institutional shareholder. GreenCo has received international recognition from TIME, IJGlobal, Environmental Finance, and Krutham, among others, for its innovation in energy trading, credit enhancement, and scalable partnership driven approach to accelerating Africa's clean energy transition. https://africagreenco.com/
Impact Fund Denmark (IFDK) Impact Fund Denmark is a Danish impact investor and Denmarks' Development Finance Institution contributing to green, just, and inclusive societies as well as supporting the Sustainable Development Goals. Impact Fund Denmark provides risk capital to companies operating in developing countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and parts of Europe. Investments are made on commercial terms in the form of equity, loans and guarantees. Impact Fund Denmark has co-invested in over 1,300 companies in more than 100 developing countries and emerging markets. Capital under management will increase from DKK 18 billion in 2024 to DKK 45 billion in 2030. Read more at www.impactfund.dk
The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) is an innovative infrastructure project developer and investor which mobilises private investment in sustainable and inclusive infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and south and southeast Asia. PIDG investments promote socio-economic development within a just transition to net zero emissions, combat poverty and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). PIDG delivers its ambition in line with its values of pioneering, partnership, safety, inclusivity, and urgency. PIDG offers technical assistance for upstream, early-stage activities and concessional capital; invests in early-stage project development and project and corporate equity through its project development solution, InfraCo; its debt solution EAAIF (the Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund) is one of the first and more successful blended debt funds in low-income markets; and its guarantees solution, GuarantCo, provides credit enhancement and local currency solutions to de-risk projects. PIDG also supports a growing portfolio of local credit enhancement facilities, which unlock domestic institutional capital for infrastructure financing. Since 2002, PIDG has supported 286 infrastructure projects to financial close, which provided an estimated 240 million people with access to new or improved infrastructure. PIDG is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia and Sweden, and Global Affairs Canada. www.pidg.org
Sanlam and Sanlam Investments: Sanlam Life Insurance Limited (Sanlam Group) is a leading pan-African financial services group focused on emerging markets, with a presence in eight of Africa’s ten largest economies. Headquartered in South Africa, Sanlam operates through five business clusters: Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investments, SanlamAllianz (a financial service3s joint venture with Allianz in Africa), its Asia operations, and Santam. Sanlam Investments is Sanlam’s asset management business, with over R1 trillion in assets under management. It is one of South Africa’s most diversified investment firms, with a growing footprint across Africa and India. A future-fit investment platform, Sanlam Investments is designed to deliver solutions that combine scale innovation, and impact through leading specialist capabilities and unique partnerships. Its key solutions businesses include Sanlam Alternative Investments, Sanlam Investments Multi-Manager, Sanlam Private Wealth, and Satrix. Supported by Sanlam’s strong balance sheet and extensive distribution network, and strategic partnerships with major shareholders such as Absa, Shriram, Allianz, and African Rainbow Capital, Sanlam Investments provides clients with access to public and private markets globally.
Sanlam Alternative Investments is a leading private markets platform with approximately R200 billion in assets under management across emerging markets, backed by the largest non-bank financial institution on the African continent. Across private equity, specialised credit, infrastructure, and rea\l estate, it allocated capital to assets and businesses that generate return and enable economic participation – creating jobs and expanding access to essential infrastructure that underpins sustainable growth. Sanlam Alternative Investments operates and scales by working closely with clients, communities, and strategic partners to align capital with long-term outcomes, ensuring that investments deliver both financial returns and real economic impact. www.sanlaminvestments.com
Media contacts
PIDG I Lorna McNae I lorna.mcnae@pidg.org
Sanlam Investments Public Relations and Communications | Shanthini Naidoo | shanthinin@sanlaminvestments.com
Africa GreenCo | Bontle Moeng | comms.marketing@africagreenco.com