Chapel Hill Denham has announced that it has raised N17.85 billion in its Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (“NIDF”), which closed on Tuesday. The sixth capital raise (NIDF Series 6) was launched in June 2017 and oversubscribed as a number of domestic investors subscribed to it. This was disclosed in a statement issued by Chapel Hill Denham and seen by Nairametrics.
Some of the domestic investors are pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, family offices, and other qualified individual investors.
What you need to know about NIDF: The Series 6 offer attracted 2 new pension fund investors bringing the total number of PFAs participating in the Fund to 22. Following the close of Series 6, and with N58 billion (US$190 million) in capital, the NIDF is the single largest issue of non-sovereign credit in Nigeria.
Details: The fund has been delivering NIDF on all its key investment objectives, as investors enjoy consistent, attractive and predictable real returns (above inflation), along with low volatility and principal preservation.
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The statement revealed that the total returns for the two and a half year period ending December 2019 were 69.2% (assuming distributions were reinvested).
It stated, “In a low yield environment, the NIDF presents a compelling investment case – the Fund targets a gross return of 300bps to 450bps over and above the benchmark FGN 10yr bond yields.
“Besides delivering attractive returns, the NIDF is also at the core of Nigeria’s economic transformation by adding to the country’s infrastructure stock, channelling institutional capital into productive assets, and supporting sustainable economic growth.”
Partners of Chapel Hill Denham, Bolaji Balogun and Philip Southwell said, “This fundraise reflects the excellent relationships we have with our investors given the strong results of NIDF since inception.
“We are grateful to our investors, particularly Nigeria’s pension funds, for their ongoing support and look forward to putting this capital to work on their behalf.”
Chief Executive Officer, NIDF, Anshul Rai, said, “Despite the challenging economic environment we continue to see compelling opportunities in the infrastructure sector in Nigeria. NIDF’s progress demonstrates the importance of local currency financing in Nigeria and the continued desire for well-structured, long-term project finance.”
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About NIDF: The Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund is the first and only infrastructure debt fund dedicated to and domiciled in Nigeria. The Fund is an Infrastructure Fund under the rules and regulations of the Securities & Exchange Commission, Nigeria and the National Pension Commission, Nigeria. The Fund’s Units are listed on the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, Nigeria.
The Fund has registered a programme for issuance of up to two billion Units with par value of N200 billion. NIDF is sponsored by Chapel Hill Denham and Chapel Hill Denham Management Limited is the Fund Manager of NIDF.
