With bank lending slowing, private credit is stepping in to fund Africa’s infrastructure deficit.
This article appears in the October issue of Global Finance Magazine.
Nascent private credit inflows are helping African countries and the private sector to plug infrastructure financing gaps, with energy, logistics and digital connectivity projects such as telecoms and fiber-optic internet attracting financing from this category of debt capital.
Africa’s infrastructure bottlenecks deter investors while national budgets often overlook key infrastructure funding requirements. The Southern Africa Venture Capital Association’s 2025 report notes that “private credit and infrastructure are gaining traction” across Africa in response to the region’s evolving capital needs and development priorities.
This comes at a time when development financiers and traditional lenders such as banks are increasingly throttling capital flows. Private credit is also emerging as the “most favoured strategy” for African private equity firms seeking investment diversification, the SAVCA report noted.
With a large mismatch in Africa’s infrastructure financing needs and capabilities, the burden and opportunities related to financing infrastructure development in Africa have clearly fallen on private credit investors.
“We are in exciting times for private credit in Africa. As the African continent’s financing needs continue to grow, private credit is playing an increasingly important role in providing capital to midsized corporates and supporting critical infrastructure development,” Sanaa Tabani, Standard Chartered Bank’s head of Loan Syndicate for Africa, told Global Finance in an interview.
In its 2026 State of Africa’s Infrastructure Report, the Africa Finance Corp. observed that the more than $1 trillion in assets held by nonbanking private capital institutions such as pension and insurance funds could be used as private capital to boost infrastructure development.
Standard Chartered was, however, “seeing rising investor interest in African debt opportunities, driven by growing needs” for infrastructure development.
Key Private Credit Deals for Africa
Private credit is not just flowing into critical infrastructure needs such as power, rail, ports and housing but is also providing crucial financing cover for corporate infrastructure requirements.
For example, Ninety One announced the final close for its Africa Credit Opportunities Fund 3, which raised $404 million.
Earlier, the IFC announced a $20 million investment into the Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration Fund to finance digital infrastructure, renewable power and energy, transportation, logistics and water as well as sanitation projects across the continent.
This year’s round added to the fund’s first close that secured $222.5 million in commitments from investors that include 16 institutional financiers.
For Alain Ebobissé, CEO of Africa50 Group, the attractiveness of Africa infrastructure funds to private credit financiers reflects strong support from African institutional investors.
“This achievement is a testament to the increasing role that African institutional investors are playing in financing the real economy and unlocking Africa’s potential. The Africa50 Group plans to mobilize further private sector capital from Africa and globally into African infrastructure,” he said.
Ninety One shares the same sentiment. It said its own $404 million close had exhibited continued investor demand for private credit strategies and financing for businesses and infrastructure across the African continent among other emerging markets.
“We continue to see a significant financing gap for high-quality businesses and infrastructure projects across Africa and other emerging markets. This creates attractive opportunities for experienced lenders with deep local origination capabilities,” said Nathaniel Micklem, Ninety One’s co-head of emerging market alternative credit.
Significant Infrastructure Funding Needs
Ninety One
In any case, “Africa’s infrastructure funding needs are significant,” and investor appetite remains strong, with private credit having an increasingly important role to play in bridging that gap, said Pazani Vaitilingon, chief commercial officer for Africa, India, and the Middle East at IQ-EQ.
According to the World Bank’s Africa Pulse report, foundational infrastructure in Africa ranging from transport networks to general-purpose technologies like energy and digital systems is indispensable for unlocking growth across productive sectors.
However, with most African countries, from Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Libya, among others, frequently experiencing electricity deficits, private capital is expected to significantly contribute to strengthening national and micro power grids and expanding mobile connectivity in less-covered areas.
There is also an alluring investment case for renewable energy for corporates. Big miners and telecom operators in Africa are seeking capital for solar power plants to sustain operations.
The Africa Pulse report notes that constrained access to power supply remains a top barrier for African businesses. To help plug connectivity gaps, the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF) in August deployed a $32.8 million senior secured loan to Eastcastle Infrastructure DRC (operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo) to boost its mobile tower base stations.
The EAAIF loan is part of a larger $179 million upsized facility for the tower company’s operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
BluePeak Private Capital Fund II also recently made a $12 million investment into Monty Mobile International, which offers digital connectivity solutions across Africa to support its growth.
It decided on the investment as Monty operates “essential digital infrastructure with a scalable, asset-light business model and deep relationships with mobile network operators across Africa,” said Fulton Shiundu, a partner at BluePeak Private Capital.
Investors Attain Sophisticated Understanding of Africa
Private credit investors focused on Africa have developed a more sophisticated understanding of Africa’s risk profile and opportunities. Private credit investors are also increasingly attracted by Africa’s compelling risk-adjusted returns relative to other markets.
“This growing pool of private capital is creating new funding avenues for borrowers seeking to diversify their sources of financing,” Tabani added.
Standard Chartered said it was in a position to “connect borrowers with investors,” while financial institution Investec is seeing opportunities for private credit in South Africa’s inefficient rail and port infrastructure, which is blocking export growth, investment flows and output.
“Infrastructure is starting to emerge not just as a public policy priority, but as an investable asset class,” said Ayan Ghosh, head of cross-asset investment strategy at Investec.
Nonetheless, private capital flows around Africa remain low compared to other regions, said Felix Boadi Missah, a finance and investments expert based in Ghana. He said Africa accounts for less than 1% of the global $3 trillion private credit purse, although the continent is in a growth mode with deal volumes for 2025 up by 8%.
But thanks to the $600 million attracted by Africa in private debt investment values for the first half of 2026, motorways, mobile towers, power plants and digital connectivity systems are shaping up across Africa.
Tawanda Karombo is a contributing writer based in Zimbabwe.
