Rabat – Three Gulf sovereign funds on Monday agreed to boost investments in Africa in partnership with nine African financial institutions including Morocco’s Ithmar Capital, according to Reuters.
The agreement was signed in Rabat by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Emirati holding ADQ, and Kuwait Investment Authority along with Morocco’s Ithmar Capital, Nigeria’s Sovereign Investment Authority, and Ghana’s Infrastructure Investment Fund.
Gabon’s FGIS, Rwanda’s AGACIRO, Angloga’s Fundo Soberano, the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Senegal’s FONSIS, and Djibouti’s Sovereign Fund also took part in the signing.
The twelve-party deal was concluded on the sidelines of the first meeting of the Africa Sovereign Investors Forum (ASIF) in the presence of sovereign funds from Angola, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, and Rwanda.
As details on how the Gulf sovereign funds will assist their African peers remain unclear, Reuters quoted Mohamed Hassan Alsuzaidi, CEO of ADQ, as saying that the regional forum “will enable us to explore new opportunities with potential partners in Africa for ADQ and its portfolio companies.”
Earlier on Monday, Morocco’s Minister of Economy and Finance Fouzi Lekjaa delivered King Mohammed VI’s address to the ASIF attendees where the monarch noted Africa’s need for a “real investment industry” to achieve financial self-sufficiency.
The Moroccan monarch mainly urged Africa to “assert itself,” arguing that African sovereign and strategic investment funds can provide incentives to better exploit and allocate resources for better economic value and social impact.
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With Ithmar Capital joining this regional partnership, the sovereign fund is expanding its network of partners as it works on supporting the Moroccan economic recovery from the severe economic repercussions of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Founded in 2011, Ithmar Capital is dedicated to the support of Morocco’s economic development in numerous sectors by playing the role of a broker between public and private actors.
With a capital of $1.8 billion, the state-owned enterprise is partially funded by the Hassan II Fund for social and economic development with two-thirds of its capital coming from the government.
In January this year, Ithmar Capital was elected to the chair of the International Board of Directors of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) for a three-year term.
