ARM-Harith raises $76m first close for Africa’s pioneer multi-currency climate fund

ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investments Ltd. has secured a first close of about $76 million for a climate transition fund aimed at channeling African institutional capital into infrastructure projects, marking a key step in efforts to bridge the continent’s infrastructure financing gap and accelerate investment in energy transition assets.

The fund manager said Monday that the vehicle, targeting a final close of $200 million, is structured as Africa’s first integrated multi-currency blended-finance infrastructure equity fund, allowing investors to participate in both U.S. dollar and local-currency denominations within a single platform.

The structure is designed to address a longstanding challenge in African infrastructure financing, where projects generate revenues largely in local currencies while funding is often raised in hard currencies, exposing developers and investors to foreign-exchange risks.

By combining local and dollar-denominated capital, ARM-Harith said the fund would help reduce currency mismatches at the asset level while creating a framework that better suits the needs of domestic institutional investors, particularly pension funds, whose liabilities are largely denominated in local currencies.

The first close was anchored by $20 million in catalytic capital provided jointly by the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) and FSD Africa Investments, according to the company.

The funding is intended to de-risk participation by pension funds and other domestic institutional investors across the continent.

The fund will invest in climate-resilient infrastructure and energy transition projects across Sub-Saharan Africa, targeting assets capable of generating long-term cash flows while supporting economic development and decarbonisation goals.

“This first close is both an achievement and an inflection point for ARM-Harith,” Rachel More-Oshodi, chief executive officer of ARM-Harith, said in a statement.

“With this successor fund, we are bringing local and hard-currency capital together within a single platform, better aligning the structure of capital with the realities of African infrastructure assets.”

Joao Duarte Cunha, manager of the African Development Bank’s Renewable Energy Funds Division, said the transaction demonstrates how blended finance can help mobilise long-term institutional capital into sustainable infrastructure investments across the region.

Anne-Marie Chidzero, chief investment officer at FSD Africa Investments, said many African pension funds have historically been unable to participate meaningfully in infrastructure equity because investment vehicles often failed to match their risk, tenure and currency requirements.

The new fund builds on ARM-Harith’s earlier infrastructure investment platform, which financed transport projects and more than 700 megawatts of installed power capacity across Africa.

According to the firm, those investments supported about 22,500 jobs and helped avoid roughly 2.6 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

ARM-Harith, which focuses on investments in energy, transport and logistics, digital infrastructure, water and waste management projects, said the successor fund will seek commercially viable investments that deliver measurable climate and development outcomes while promoting regional integration across Sub-Saharan Africa.