The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF), a fund-of-funds equally funded by public and private capital, has committed $16.6m to the Catalyst MENA Clean Energy Fund.

Mónica Arévalo, Senior Investment Manager of the GEEREF, said: “Together with our partners, we decided to invest in the Catalyst MENA Clean Energy Fund to help bridge the financing gap for private sector-led renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the MENA region.”

“We believe through this fund we will be able to bring strong value added to the target countries in clean energy generation and greenhouse gas emission savings, coupled with supporting best environmental and social practices,” she said.

The Catalyst MENA Clean Energy Fund is a private equity fund that invests in renewable energy infrastructure for electricity generation and small scale renewable energy and energy efficiency projects across the Middle East and Northern Africa region.

The fund, which currently has more than $47m to invest, is also backed by FMO – the Dutch development bank, Finnfund – the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation, and DEG – a subsidiary of KfW, the German development finance institution.

Initially, the Catalyst fund is investing in Jordan, with the aim of expanding its activities to Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt in the future.

The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund provides much-needed equity financing to small and medium-sized renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in developing countries via specialist private equity funds.

GEEREF is advised by the European Investment Bank Group, combining the global expertise in climate finance investments of the European Investment Bank with the fund-of-funds management expertise of the European Investment Fund.

GEEREF was launched in 2008 with €112m ($120.12m) of public sector seed funding from the European Union and the governments of Germany and Norway.

In 2015, GEEREF had a final close at €222m ($238.10m), with an additional €110m ($117.98m)  from private investors.

To date GEEREF has invested in 11 funds that have in turn invested in over 65 projects. 

In Africa, GEEREF’s portfolio includes: Africa Renewable Energy Fund, managed by Berkley Energy; DI Frontier Market Energy and Carbon Fund, managed by Frontier Investment Management; and Evolution One Fund, managed by Inspired Evolution.