The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which has more than R3-trillion in assets under management, has entered into a partnership with Britain’s development finance institution to advance investment across Africa.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed by the PIC and British International Investment (BII) to accelerate collaboration in investments across the African continent. It will create a framework for joint exploration and pursuit of investment opportunities.
“The MOU outlines a commitment to share deal pipelines, facilitate the exchange of promising investment opportunities across various economic sectors like agriculture, financial services, infrastructure, and climate initiatives.
“The partnership will foster regular dialogue and explore co-investment possibilities, leveraging the expertise of both organisations to maximise impact,” the PIC said in statement on Monday.
“The organisations have committed to review investment opportunities in debt, equity and funds.”
The state-owned PIC manages a diversified investment portfolio on behalf of a range of social security funds, including the Government Employees Pension Fund, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund.
It invests in multiple asset classes, including listed equities, real estate, capital market, private equity and impact investing. Through its listed investments, the PIC controls more than 10% of the JSE and has direct and indirect exposure to almost all sectors of the SA economy.
The PIC’s development mandate includes investments in unlisted SA-based entities with a focus on sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, mining and financial services, and developmental investments in the rest of Africa.
The BII invests in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. It has investments in more than 1,580 businesses across 65 countries and total net assets of £8.5bn. It has a portfolio of $5.6bn invested across 810 companies in Africa, where it has been investing on the continent for more than 75 years, providing long-term capital. Between 2022 and 2026, at least 30% of its total new commitments by value will be in climate finance.
The BII’s partnership with the PIC formed part of its strategy to work with institutional investors and use its concessionary capital to create ways in which more commercial capital could be deployed to support development in Africa, the PIC said.
Outgoing PIC CEO Abel Sithole said the BII partnership would enable the use of blended funding models to unlock investments that facilitated infrastructure development, industrialisation and trade on the continent.
“We are elated by the powerful force of two large impact investors working together for the benefit of Africa,” he said.
Commenting on the partnership, BII CEO Leslie Maasdorp — a South African who was previously vice-president and CFO of the New Development Bank set up by Brics countries — said that “by leveraging our combined expertise and resources, we can unlock new opportunities for transformative investments that support sustainable development, drive economic growth, and attract increased commercial capital into key sectors across Africa”.
British high commissioner to SA Antony Phillipson said the partnership would deepen the UK-SA growth partnership.
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