Investec Bank and UK Climate Investments have committed a combined R1-billion to a dedicated renewable energy investment vehicle Revego Africa Energy.
Revego Fund Managers (RFM) – a newly incorporated black-owned and managed fund manager – will be responsible 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 in a release that South Africa and the broader sub-Saharan Africa region has a significant renewable energy market, especially since hundreds of millions of people do not have access to reliable electricity supply.
The target will be equity investments in operational projects to enable initial developers and investors to invest further in electrification, while providing investors in Revego a stable 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 reside in sub-Saharan Africa.
“By helping to facilitate the recycling of development capital into new renewable energy projects, this green finance initiative represents an exciting opportunity to accelerate the deployment of clean generation capacity for the region.”
Revego intends to list on the JSE in the first half of the year, with a targeted initial listing size of about R2-billion, which should generate significant interest from the institutional investment community.
Investec corporate and institutional banking head Lourens van Rensburg noted that this listing would provide the investment community with access to equity investments in the renewable energy sector, which has, to date, been difficult to access.