Investec, UK Climate Investments to invest $72 million in Africa renewables

Investec Bank and UK Climate Investments have announced that it has dedicated a joint R1-billion to a committed renewable energy investment vehicle Revego Africa Energy.

Revego Fund Managers (RFM) – a newly integrated black-owned and managed fund manager – will be accountable for managing Revego’s investments in operating renewable energy projects in South Africa and other sub-Saharan African countries.

RFM chief investment officer Mike Meeser said that South Africa and the broader sub-Saharan Africa region has an important renewable energy market, particularly since hundreds of millions of people do not have access to consistent electricity supply.

The goal will be equity investments in operational projects to facilitate primary developers and investors to invest further in electrification, while providing investors in Revego a steady long-term yield.

UK Climate Investments MD Richard Abel commented that more than half of the world’s population currently living without access to electricity resides in sub-Saharan Africa.

“By helping to assist the recycling of development capital into new renewable energy projects, this green finance proposal represents an exhilarating prospect to step up the deployment of clean generation capacity for the region.”

Investec corporate and institutional banking head Lourens van Rensburg stated that this listing would supply the investment community with access to equity investments in the renewable energy sector, which has, to date, been complicated to access.