Stanlib to invest $160m in Africa renewables via new fund

Stanlib Asset Management, one of Africa’s largest investment firms, aims to deploy R3 billion to help address a funding gap for major renewable energy initiatives across the continent.

The Khanyisa Energy Transition Fund is using initial investment from Stanlib’s sister companies Standard Bank Group and Liberty Holdings. It will start with South Africa and then seek assets across Africa within two years, said Johan Marnewick, head of credit alternatives at Stanlib.

It’s part of Standard Bank’s plans to distribute as much as $13 billion for sustainable solutions over five years, still a fraction of the $1.2 trillion it estimates Africa will need to shift from polluting energy sources to cleaner technologies by 2030. Such funding is in focus this week as nations meet for the COP28 summit talks in Dubai on climate change.

“The portfolio comprises a diverse range of technologies, strategically distributed across various geographic locations,” said fund manager Kholofelo Molewa. That’s expected to include wind and solar power, metals critical to electric vehicles such as lithium and transport infrastructure.

It aims to be running by the end of the first quarter and to grow assets to $1 billion in three to five years, targeting investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and development institutions.

Marnewick said the next jurisdictions to invest will be where Stanlib already has a presence, such as Nigeria and Ghana in west Africa, Tanzania and Kenya in east Africa, and Angola in the south of the continent. Mozambique could also provide viable assets in future, he added.