New Sparta Asset Management has begun fundraising for its maiden African renewable energy fund, eyeing commitments of $250 million.
The firm has applied for up to $50 million from the European Investment Bank for the New Sparta Africa Renewable Power Fund, six months after the London-based asset manager launched the New Sparta Energy subsidiary targeting African renewable projects.
The vehicle will be seeking to invest in greenfield projects in sub-Saharan Africa of between 10MW and 60MW across solar, onshore wind, biomass and small-scale hydro, with the potential for geothermal sites to be added to the mix. The funds will be deployed in between 10 and 15 projects.
New Sparta Asset Management was founded by Jerome Booth, co-founder of Ashmore Group. Booth told Infrastructure Investor in May upon the launch of New Sparta Energy that the unit’s strategy will be to seek projects ranging between $30 million and $100 million in total cost and provide the firm with an IRR of 16 percent to 20 percent. He added that New Sparta will look to exit investments after six to 18 months of operations.
New Sparta Energy is led by managing director William Barry, who has previously worked at emerging markets-focused power developers eleQtra and ContourGlobal. The team was boosted in July with the addition of director and head of development David Anson – also from eleQtra – and Richard Scott and Camille Astier as project director and legal director respectively.
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