Infrastructure Investor Awards 2020: Middle East and Africa

Fund Manager of the Year

WINNER: Actis

SECOND PLACE: Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers
THIRD PLACE: AP Moller Capital

Actis takes the coveted top spot, one step up from its second place in last year’s awards. The firm committed more than $2 billion to power projects, mostly in Africa, with about 6GW of capacity. Actis was also back on the fundraising trail and reached a first close of about $3 billion on its fifth energy fund. The manager is one of the sector’s leading investors in growth markets and has six offices across the Middle East and Africa in Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, the UAE, and Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa.

Deal of the Year

WINNER: ADNOC Gas Pipeline Assets (Global Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Asset Management, OTPP, GIC, NH Investment & Securities, Snam)

SECOND PLACE: West African port platform
THIRD PLACE: MetroFibre

The largest infrastructure deal of the year brought together a consortium of six of the sector’s biggest names to purchase a 49 percent share in the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s natural gas pipelines for $10 billion. The deal, for a network spanning 1,000km, is contracted for 20 years. Talking to Infrastructure Investor in August about his firm’s rationale for investing in the pipeline, NH Investment & Securities’ head of project financing, Soocheol Lee, cited “ADNOC’s high credibility, it being a core asset for the UAE, its openness to foreign investors, and the fact we were co-investing with big
global names”.

Energy Deal of the Year

WINNER: ADNOC Gas Pipeline assets (Global Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Asset Management, OTPP, GIC, NH Investment & Securities, Snam)

SECOND PLACE: Azito
THIRD PLACE: Fujairah F3 plant I

Given the size of the deal, it is not surprising that the ADNOC Gas Pipeline wins in this category too. ADNOC’s pipelines, which are reportedly valued at just over
$20 billion and service the sixth largest natural gas reserves in the world, connect offshore drilling fields to onshore refineries and liquefied natural gas facilities in the UAE. The deal follows the energy company’s sale of a 40 percent stake in its oil pipelines to sector giants BlackRock and KKR for $4 billion, which was named Infrastructure Deal of the Year in Infrastructure Investor’s 2019 annual awards.

Renewables Deal of the Year

WINNER: Ghoubet wind farm (Africa Finance Corporation, FMO, Climate Fund Managers)

SECOND PLACE: Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park
THIRD PLACE: Guinea solar development

Financing was secured for a 60MW windfarm in the small republic of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. The project, which is set to be the country’s first renewable energy project, had a total cost of $250 million and has a 25-year power agreement with the Djibouti government. It will reportedly have 15 turbines and the deal’s joint venture partners have established a special purpose company, Djibouti Wind, to oversee the construction.