Inspired Evolution Managers Limited, a private equity firm, has raised $400 million in capital commitments to participate in numerous growth equity ventures as well as renewable energy infrastructure-type generation projects in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African nations.
Inspired Evolution specializes in energy and resource-efficient growth initiatives as well as renewable energy infrastructure.
This month, the company completed the first closing of its third fund, Evolution III Fund.
Seven international investors made conditional commitments totaling $199.4 million as part of Evolution III’s closing, giving it a 12- to the 18-month window to close at its target closure of $400 million in capital commitments.
Since 2007, Inspired Evolution has contributed to the financing of more than 2 GW of renewable energy infrastructure-type power projects as well as several growth equity investments throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
The firm focuses on key climate-driven principal investment themes, namely clean energy infrastructure, energy access, energy and resource efficiency and the value chains that support them.
Inspired Evolution launched the Mauritian-domiciled Evolution III Fund last year, which is targeting $400 million in capital commitments and is expected to comprise (predominantly Development Financial Institutions) investors and new global and regional institutional investors, endowments, and family offices.
Investors in Evolution III’s first closing include the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Dutch Development Bank FMO, the African Development Bank, the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (FinnFund), the Emerging Markets Climate Action Fund (EMCAF), Swedfund International AG, and the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM).
Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Inspired Evolution, Wayne Keast, said, “We are a private equity firm with 16 years of on-the-ground African investment experience in clean energy and climate finance investing. We have made 21 investments to date in our two Evolution clean energy private equity funds, and we have exited 16. Achieving this first closing within such a short time period is a great validation of our investment thesis, active investment management approach, and the track record we’ve built.”
Story adapted from The Nation
