White & Case advises Africa50 Group on establishment and first closing of Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration Fund I LP

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised Africa50, the pan-African infrastructure investment platform, on the establishment and first closing of Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration Fund I LP (Africa50-IAF), a Mauritius-based 12-year closed-ended infrastructure private equity fund.

White & Case partner Arnaud Cagi-Nicolau, who co-led the Firm's deal team, said: "The successful first close of Africa50-IAF and the participation of leading international investors reflects the global recognition of African infrastructure as a rising asset class. Our role advising on the establishment and close of Africa50's first fund demonstrates the global capabilities of the funds formation team at White & Case and our deep regional expertise."

Africa50-IAF has secured a total of US$222.5 million at first close from institutional investors including the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The capital raised will be deployed into a pipeline of transformative infrastructure projects spanning power and energy, transportation and logistics, water and sanitation, and digital and social infrastructure.

"This transaction is another illustration of our multi-jurisdiction capabilities and of the synergies across our private equity and funds formation practices," said White & Case partner Julien Bensaid, who co-led the Firm's deal team. "It demonstrates our capacity to negotiate a complex set of transactional documents raising corporate, tax and regulatory issues with multiple institutional investors to be onboarded."

Africa50 is an infrastructure investment platform. It currently has 34 shareholders, comprised of 31 African countries, the African Development Bank, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and Bank Al-Maghrib.

The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was led by partners Julien Bensaid (Dubai & Paris) and Arnaud Cagi-Nicolau (Luxembourg) and included partners Joshua Siaw, Mukund Dhar (London) and Marcus Booth (Dubai & London) and associates Olivier Poinsignon, Konstantinos Strakas (both Luxembourg), Arnold Krutilins and Thomas Jacques (both Dubai).

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