Last month, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved its third equity investment of US$40 million in Africa Infrastructure Investment Fund 3 (AIIF3), a closed-ended pan-African infrastructure fund managed by South Africa-based Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM).

AIIF3 will focus on acquiring positions of significant influence in roads, airports, rail links, bridges, ports, logistics, power generation, utility distribution, as well as telecommunication assets. AIIF3 boasts an extensive pipeline of bankable or near-bankable infrastructure projects.

Having reviewed hundreds of potential investments, AIIM has narrowed down a pipeline of circa US$500 million, including key projects such as: Bugesera Airport, Libreville Bypass, and Kampala-Jinja Expressway.

The approval represents the Bank’s third investment with this fund manager, following a 1996 investment in SAIF and a 2010 investment in AIIF2. 

In terms of development outcomes, AIIF3 will create a quantifiable and measurable social and environmental impact by supporting energy and transport infrastructure access across Sub-Saharan Africa. The fund will support the creation of over 1,500 jobs at the project level and enhance capacity building and skills-transfer.