ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investments announced the first close of its successor climate transition fund at approximately $76 million. The fund is targeting a final close of $200 million and is designed to accelerate investment in energy transition and climate-resilient infrastructure projects across Sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the firm, the vehicle represents the first integrated multi-currency blended finance platform specifically designed for African institutional investors. The structure combines U.S. dollar and local currency investments within a single fund, allowing it to address one of the longstanding challenges facing African infrastructure financing: the mismatch between hard-currency fund structures and the local-currency revenues generated by underlying assets.
By incorporating both currencies, ARM-Harith said the fund is intended to reduce currency risks at the project level and facilitate greater participation by domestic institutional investors, particularly pension funds, while still enabling international investors to maintain U.S. dollar exposure.
The initial close was supported by $20 million in catalytic capital provided jointly by FSD Africa Investments and the African Development Bank through its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa. The capital is intended to de-risk investments for domestic pension funds and other institutional investors while supporting broader efforts to mobilize local capital for infrastructure development across the continent.
The fund will focus on investments in essential infrastructure projects that deliver climate resilience, economic impact, and stable cash flows. Areas of focus include energy, transport and logistics, digital infrastructure, waste management, and water infrastructure.
ARM-Harith said the new fund builds on the success of its predecessor vehicle, which financed critical transportation assets and more than 700 megawatts of installed power capacity. Those investments supported approximately 22,500 jobs and helped avoid an estimated 2.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
Founded with more than 80 years of combined investment experience across Africa, ARM-Harith has spent more than a decade mobilizing domestic institutional capital, including pension fund assets, into African infrastructure equity investments.
KEY QUOTES:
“This first close is both an achievement and an inflection point for ARM-Harith. With our first fund, we demonstrated that domestic institutional capital can be mobilized into infrastructure equity. With this successor fund, we are building on that foundation by bringing local and hard-currency capital together within a single platform, better aligning the structure of the capital with the realities of African infrastructure assets. This is a fundamental redesign: one that recognizes local market realities, mobilizes domestic savings, attracts international capital, and allocates risk more intelligently. The institutions that are backing us understand the significance of this shift. They are not only investing in a fund, they are helping to shape a more practical, scalable way to finance the infrastructure Africa needs.”
Rachel More-Oshodi, Chief Executive Officer, ARM-Harith
“The successful first close of the ARM-Harith Successor Fund marks a major milestone for renewable energy investment in sub-Saharan Africa. SEFA’s catalytic participation demonstrates the African Development Bank’s commitment to unlocking long-term institutional capital and shows how blended finance can mobilise private investment into sustainable infrastructure.”
Joao Duarte Cunha, Manager of Renewable Energy Funds Division, African Development Bank
“The constraint has never been capital itself, but the absence of investment products structured to meet pension funds’ liability-matching needs, particularly around tenure, risk allocation, and currency alignment. Our investment structure was designed to bridge that gap, enabling pension funds to participate in infrastructure equity while remaining fully aligned with their investment objectives and obligations.”
Anne-Marie Chidzero, Chief Investment Officer, FSD Africa Investments
