AfricInvest, a pan-African private equity firm, has announced the third close of FIVE, an evergreen platform for investing in financial institutions in Africa, bringing total commitments to €67m. 

The fund is targeting a fourth close in the next few months with institutional investors that have already confirmed their commitments. 

Subsequent closings are also expected to take place over the next four years to reach the fund’s target size of €200m.

FIVE stands for Financial Inclusion Vehicle.

Through its investments, FIVE aims to improve access to financial services for the growing African population, while achieving attractive financial returns for its investors.

KfW, the German government-owned development bank, joined the capital of FIVE alongside the existing investors FMO, BIO, Norfund, IFU, and the Central Bank of Kenya Pension Fund.

“KfW’s investment in FIVE reflects a continued confidence in the AfricInvest team to deliver on its investment strategy targeting financial inclusion. KfW is already and investor in AFSL (the predecessor fund of FIVE) and its enduring trust will motivate the team to build and execute on a high quality pipeline of financial institutions in Africa,” said Julius Tichelaar, Partner at AfricInvest.

Markus Schladt, Principal Project Manager Financial System Development in KfW, added: “With AfricInvest we have an experienced and highly professional investment partner with whom we have already successfully cooperated in the previous fund focusing on the financial sector in Africa.” 

“We are happy to continue our cooperation with our investment in FIVE out of funds of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The investment rationale of FIVE to strengthen financial institutions and innovative financial models in order to increase financing opportunities particularly for the small segments of the economy is perfectly in line with our development goals.”

Erik Bosman, FIVE’s Supervisory Committee Chairman, said: “Having an astute investor like KfW committing to FIVE is another great testament to the investment opportunity identified by AfricInvest. The financial sector in Africa offers great potential for investors who know the space well to generate attractive financial returns combined with strong, positive impact on the livelihood of people. The FIVE team is one such investor, and is very well placed to benefit from current market trends while staying true to AfricInvest’s desire to make a difference.”