The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), acting through its project development arm InfraCo, has successfully concluded its preference share investment in InfraCredit Nigeria. The exit, valued at $25.7 million, represents a high-impact financial milestone, achieving a strong return for the group despite the volatile macroeconomic environment currently facing frontier markets.
While PIDG has exited its preference stake, it remains a long-term stakeholder through its continued holding of ordinary shares, following InfraCredit’s historic listing on the NASD OTC Securities Exchange.
InfraCredit Nigeria was established in 2017 as a joint venture between PIDG and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). The goal was to create a first-of-its-kind “guarantee facility” that could bridge the gap between Nigeria’s infrastructure needs and its domestic institutional capital.
Philippe Valahu, CEO of PIDG, highlighted the strategic success of the model:
PIDG has demonstrated how to successfully use increasingly scarce capital to unlock domestic institutional finance. InfraCredit’s strong performance serves as a template for how such entities can be built in the future.
InfraCredit serves a specialized role in the Nigerian economy: it provides Naira-denominated guarantees. These guarantees “wrap” local debt instruments (like corporate bonds), enhancing their credit rating to make them attractive to pension funds and insurance companies.
Key Achievements to Date:
- Capital Unlocked: Since 2017, the facility has facilitated the mobilization of ₦327 billion (approx. $516 million) from more than 20 institutional investors.
- Sector Diversification: Investments have flowed into critical “real economy” sectors, including renewable energy, transport, logistics, and telecommunications.
- Market Maturation: The transition from a startup facility to a publicly listed company on the NASD exchange underscores the institutional strength built over the last nine years.
For PIDG, this $26 million exit is not just a financial gain but a “recycling” of development capital. The funds will be redeployed into new projects focused on climate resilience and sustainable development in low- and middle-income countries. This “exit-and-reinvest” cycle is the core of PIDG’s mission to maximize the impact of every dollar in their portfolio.
Chinua Azubike, CEO of InfraCredit, noted that the exit signifies InfraCredit’s arrival as a “market-anchored” institution.
PIDG has been a foundational partner since inception, supporting InfraCredit through its early stages as we built the institutional strength and market credibility required to become a publicly listed company.
As InfraCredit continues to operate at scale, the focus will likely shift to deeper integration with the Nigerian capital markets and expanding its reach to support larger-scale, cross-border infrastructure projects in the West African sub-region.
