AIIM Invests Further R1.25 billion to Boost Solar Energy Across Africa

Cape Town, 26 September 2022 — African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), one of Africa’s largest infrastructure-focused private equity fund managers, today announced a substantial additional equity and preference share investment to support the merger of existing portfolio company Starsight Energy with South Africa-based solar firm, SolarAfrica Energy. 

The newly combined strength of Starsight Energy and SolarAfrica Energy will make it one of the continent's most dominant solar players - a genuine pan-African provider of competitive, full-service renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions to the continent's commercial and industrial (C&I) sectors. 

AIIM recently pledged to increase its pipeline of renewable energy investments in South Africa from 2,000MW to 5,000MW in the next three years.  Alongside its original investment in Starsight Energy announced in 2018, AIIM has further committed c.ZAR1.25 billion [approximately USD73 million] equity and shareholder funding to the South African subsidiary of the merged entity. This will accelerate the build-out of the contracted pipeline in the C&I wheeling market in South Africa, providing green energy and certainty of pricing to large C&I customers.

Olusola Lawson, Managing Director and co-Head at AIIM, said: “Our support for the merger demonstrates our confidence in the growth potential of full-service renewable energy companies in Africa. This is a landmark moment for cross-continent green and modern energy and a significant step forward in Africa's energy transition. As one of Africa’s largest renewable energy equity investors, and with a renewable energy portfolio of c.2GW, AIIM has been privileged to play a key role in the growth and expansion of the Starsight platform over the last five years. The additional equity and loan funding extended through our IDEAS Infrastructure I Partnership will empower the merged entity to boost the supply of reliable solar energy and we look forward to supporting this continued growth.” 

The merger - announced last week - is subject to standard regulatory approvals including anti-trust approvals. Once approved, the merged entity will comprise a portfolio of over 220MW of operated and contracted generation capacity and 40MWh of operational battery storage, with an additional generation pipeline exceeding 1GW, spanning three key geographical hubs – Southern, East and West Africa.

Thor Corry, Investment Director at AIIM, said “The newly merged company is perfectly positioned to contribute to solving South Africa’s current load-shedding issues which result in regular blackouts across the country. SolarAfrica is already a significant provider of energy in South Africa but will build on this heritage, constructing new utility scale generation facilities and wheeling electricity over the country’s existing power grid to bring cost savings, carbon reduction and power security to its commercial and industrial customers.”

Notes to Editors

About AIIM 

AIIM, a member of Old Mutual Alternative Investments* (OMAI), has been investing in the African infrastructure sector since 1999 with a track record extending across seven African infrastructure funds. AIIM’s team of 40+ investment professionals are based out of five locally staffed offices across the continent in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos and Abidjan providing direct on-the-ground coverage of our key markets. 

AIIM is Africa’s largest dedicated infrastructure private equity manager and currently manages an aggregate AUM of USD2.4 billion in assets across the power, renewable energy, digital infrastructure, mid-stream energy and transport sectors with operations in 19 African countries.  

AIIM is a licensed FSP approved by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa. 

Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI) is a private alternative investment manager in Africa, with over USD4.8 billion (ZAR76 billion) under management in infrastructure, private equity, hybrid equity and impact funds. It is a member of Old Mutual Investment Group, the investment management arm of Old Mutual.   

About Starsight Energy

Across the continent, Starsight Energy is redefining what it means for businesses to be energy efficient. Starsight Energy provides premier clean on-grid and off-grid energy services to commercial and industrial clients in Africa. Serving the commercial and industrial, financial, residential, educational and agricultural sectors, Starsight Energy delivers tailored power and cooling solutions to meet client requirements while optimising consumption through energy-efficient appliances and environmentally-friendly practices and recommendations. From load analysis and modelling to demand management and customised solution design, Starsight Energy helps clients optimize energy efficiency and cost savings across the board.

Earlier this year, the UK Financial Times named Starsight Energy as one of Africa's fastest-growing companies. The company has over 640 sites operating in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana and was the first renewable energy company to achieve carbon credit accreditation from AREA in Nigeria. Starsight Energy serves commercial and industrial customers using over 70MW of power-generating assets and over 36MWh of battery storage.

About SolarAfrica

Founded in 2011, SolarAfrica provides a suite of Capex-free, green energy solutions from solar and battery storage through to wheeling and electricity trading, to the commercial and industrial sectors in Southern Africa.

With the aim to create a sustainable future for businesses by providing energy solutions that enable cost savings, carbon reduction and power security, SolarAfrica takes customers on a green energy journey that allows them to secure 100% of their energy needs offline, solving their power struggles both now and for years to come.

The company has evolved into an ambitious team who are passionate about what they do and the core values they uphold. In 2021, SolarAfrica was named the continent’s leading solar energy firm, scooping the Africa Solar Industry Association’s African Solar Company of the Year award.