United Capital Plc today announced the launch of its 150 Billion Naira Infrastructure Fund.
The United Capital Infrastructure Fund (UCIF) is a Naira-denominated fund that aims to provide long-term financing for the delivery of critical infrastructure in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.
United Capital stated this in a disclosure statement released through the Nigerian Exchange Limited and obtained by Investors King on Monday.
The statement further said that the fund has been registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a close-ended fund.
The infrastructure deficit in Nigeria is growing at an alarming rate with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) estimating that the Federal Government would need about US$100 billion annually to address the nation’s infrastructure deficit.
This infrastructural deficit is a major constraint to the economic development of Nigeria and the United Capital fund is set to address this deficit by financing infrastructure assets that cut across sectors such as power and renewable energy, transportation, agribusiness and industrial infrastructure, healthcare, technology, mass housing, urban and social infrastructure.
Stanbic IBTC also launched a N100 Billion infrastructure fund earlier in the year in an attempt to close the infrastructural gap in the country.
According to United Capital, the Infrastructure Fund would be managed by United Capital Asset Management Limited (“UCAML”), its only sponsor. The Fund has retained Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as the independent Financial Advisor, to provide additional layers of best practice of corporate governance which enhances the project appraisal and due diligence activities of the Fund Management team.
Speaking at the launching, Mr. Peter Ashade, the Group Chief Executive Officer of United Capital Plc stated that “the journey to launch the Fund has taken almost two years, during which period extensive preparatory studies and appraisals were carried out to establish the business case for the Fund, as well as to define a model and governance framework that would provide investors that have an appetite for long-term financing products (such as pension funds and insurance companies), with sufficient confidence of the attractiveness of UCIF, as an investment opportunity.”
United Capital Plc is a financial services group with activities that include Investment Banking, Asset Management, Trustees, Securities Trading, Wealth Management and Consumer Finance. The Group is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, with operations and presence in West Africa.