Case study · 5 min read
Climate Finance Partnership and Global Infrastructure Partners: R500 million in South Africa
Closed on 11 October 2022: an R500 million South African mandate arranged alongside the Climate Finance Partnership (CFP) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), with Investec Bank as the primary financial institution backing the fund.
September 8, 2026
Key takeaways
- Blended vehicles pair institutional capital with concessional and development funding.
- Institutional partners of this standing materially improve the pricing available to a project.
- South African mandates are drawn and settled in local currency through a correspondent bank.
- Diligence follows the partners' own investment criteria as well as our credit committee's.
Partners
Climate Finance Partnership (CFP), Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP)
Country
South Africa
Mandate size
ZAR 500,000,000
Sector
Climate and infrastructure investment
Date of close
11 October 2022
Banking partner
Investec Bank
Structure
Blended institutional participation, staged drawdown
The partners
The Climate Finance Partnership is a blended-finance vehicle created to channel institutional capital into climate infrastructure in emerging markets. Global Infrastructure Partners is one of the largest independent infrastructure investors in the world, with a long record in energy and transport assets.
Where partners of that standing participate, a project's pricing improves. Institutional, large-scale infrastructure finance can price at 5%–9% APR precisely because strong sponsors, guarantees or development-institution support reduce the risk a lender is asked to carry.
The mandate
The mandate closed on 11 October 2022, with Investec Bank as the primary financial institution backing the South African fund.
The South African mandate is sized at R500 million. Blended structures like this one combine commercial capital with concessional or development funding, so that the concessional layer absorbs the risk commercial investors will not price, and the commercial layer supplies the scale.
Diligence and drawdown
A mandate with institutional partners passes two sets of criteria: our own credit committee's, and the partners' investment policies. In practice that means the diligence pack — feasibility, contracts, permits, environmental and social clearance, financial model — needs to be complete before, not during, negotiation.
Drawdowns are released against certified milestones and settled in local currency through our correspondent financial institution in the region, coordinated from our South Africa office.
Discuss your project with the lending desk
Facilities from $250,000 to $50,000,000, with terms to 240 months. Underwriting responds within 24–48 hours of a complete submission.