Nairobi / London, 18 April 2026 — Crestmont International today announced the successful final close of the Crestmont Africa Clean Energy Fund II (“CACEF II” or “the Fund”), raising a total of $240 million in committed capital — exceeding its original target of $180 million and representing the largest fund close in the firm’s fifteen-year history.

The oversubscribed fund, which attracted commitments from 19 institutional investors and development finance institutions across Europe, North America, and Africa, will deploy capital into utility-scale solar, onshore wind, solar mini-grids, and battery storage infrastructure across Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, and Senegal. The Fund is expected to finance a portfolio of projects totalling approximately 680 megawatts of installed clean energy capacity.

The close represents a landmark moment not only for Crestmont International but for the broader African clean energy investment landscape — demonstrating that institutional capital can be mobilised at scale for the continent’s most pressing infrastructure challenge.

A Pivotal Moment for African Energy Finance

Sub-Saharan Africa faces the world’s most acute energy access deficit: more than 600 million people across the continent lack access to reliable electricity, and the gap between supply and rapidly growing demand is widening each year. Yet Africa receives less than two percent of global clean energy investment — a structural mismatch that CACEF II is designed, in part, to address.

Crestmont’s Managing Director of Energy, Kwame Asante-Boateng, said the close reflected a fundamental shift in how institutional investors were approaching the African energy opportunity.

CACEF II builds on the track record established by Crestmont Africa Clean Energy Fund I, which reached a final close of $97 million in 2021 and has since deployed capital into seven projects across Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda — achieving a gross IRR above 20 percent on realised investments and providing reliable electricity to more than 320,000 people.

Investor Base: Breadth and Quality

The Fund attracted a diverse and high-quality investor base spanning development finance institutions, European pension funds, impact-focused foundations, and African institutional investors — the latter representing a growing and strategically important constituency for Crestmont’s platform.

Anchor investors include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which committed $35 million in the form of a first-loss tranche that was instrumental in unlocking commercial co-investment; the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which provided a $28 million loan facility; and Proparco, the French development finance institution, which committed €20 million.

Commercial co-investors — attracted in part by the de-risking architecture provided by DFI participation — include a Nordic pension fund, two Dutch institutional asset managers, a UK-based impact fund of funds, and two pan-African institutional investors making first-time commitments to a clean energy vehicle of this type.

Crestmont’s Chief Executive commented that the diversity of the investor base was as significant as the quantum of capital raised.

Capital Structure and Blended Finance Architecture

CACEF II is structured as a blended finance vehicle — a design that has become a hallmark of Crestmont’s investment approach. By layering concessional capital from development finance institutions ahead of commercial investment, the Fund reduces the risk profile for private sector LPs while enabling deployment into markets and project types that would otherwise fall outside conventional investment mandates.

Fund Capital Structure

The blended structure enables a projected gross-of-fees equity return of 22–26 percent on individual projects, which — after fund-level costs and the waterfall distribution to senior tranches — is expected to deliver commercial LPs a net IRR in the range of 18–22 percent in USD terms. This compares favourably with comparable private infrastructure funds in more developed markets at lower risk-adjusted yields.

Investment Strategy and Target Portfolio

CACEF II will invest across a diversified portfolio of clean energy technologies and market contexts, reflecting Crestmont’s conviction that African energy transition requires a technology-agnostic approach tailored to the specific resource endowments, regulatory frameworks, and demand profiles of individual markets.

The Fund’s investment strategy is built around four core pillars:

• Utility-scale solar IPPs — Large-scale solar farms (20MW–120MW) operating under long-term power purchase agreements with creditworthy sovereign or commercial offtakers, providing stable, contracted cash flows over 20–25 year terms.
• Onshore wind — Wind installations in high-resource corridors, principally East Africa’s Great Rift Valley and the West African Sahel, providing complementary baseload generation to solar-heavy grid portfolios.
• Solar mini-grids and off-grid solutions — Decentralised solar-plus-storage mini-grid clusters serving rural and peri-urban communities without grid access, paired with productive use applications to drive economic multiplier effects.
• Battery energy storage systems (BESS) — Grid-scale battery storage enabling firmed renewable delivery, reducing curtailment, and supporting higher penetration of variable renewables in grid systems that currently rely on thermal peaking capacity.

The Fund’s pipeline, which was substantially developed prior to the final close, currently comprises fourteen projects at various stages of development across the five target markets, representing a total project value of approximately $680 million — a leverage ratio of 2.8x the Fund’s committed capital.

Geographic Focus and Country Allocations

The Fund will be concentrated in five markets where Crestmont has established on-the-ground operations, government relationships, and active project pipelines — enabling rapid deployment and reducing the execution risk that has historically challenged pan-African investment vehicles.

Kenya will receive the largest allocation, reflecting the country’s mature renewable energy regulatory framework, creditworthy offtaker in Kenya Power, and the depth of Crestmont’s Nairobi-based origination platform. Nigeria is the second-largest target market, focusing principally on off-grid and C&I solar given the constraints of grid-connected IPP development in the Nigerian context.

Tanzania and Ghana represent significant greenfield opportunities: Tanzania for onshore wind and utility solar in the country’s southern and northern corridors; Ghana for a well-structured grid system and improving regulatory environment following recent energy sector reforms. Senegal, a newer market in Crestmont’s portfolio, will absorb a smaller initial allocation with scope for expansion in Fund II’s subsequent deployment phases.

Impact Framework and SDG Alignment

CACEF II operates under a rigorous Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework aligned with the IFC Performance Standards, the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C pathway, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Fund has been independently assessed as qualifying for classification under the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation as an Article 9 fund — the highest sustainability designation — a first for Crestmont’s platform.

Target impact outcomes across the Fund’s life include:

• Direct electricity access for more than 1.4 million people across 5 countries, measured against baseline surveys conducted prior to each project’s operational commencement
• Annual avoidance of approximately 2.1 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent — displacing diesel, heavy fuel oil, and coal-dependent grid generation
• Creation of 12,000+ direct and indirect jobs across construction, operations, and supply chain throughout the portfolio lifecycle
• A minimum 35 percent female employment target across all Fund portfolio companies, supported by active gender-lens hiring frameworks in each market
• Community benefit programmes in every project geography, including productive use financing for smallholder farmers, healthcare facilities, and SMEs anchoring their growth to reliable power

Deployment Timeline and First Investments

Crestmont expects to complete its initial capital deployment within 36 months of the final close, consistent with the Fund’s investment period. Three investments from the pipeline have already been approved by the Fund’s Investment Committee and are expected to reach financial close within the next six months:

• A 75MW utility-scale solar IPP in Kenya’s Rift Valley, financed under a 22-year PPA with Kenya Power, with construction commencing in Q3 2026 and commercial operations targeted for Q4 2027
• A cluster of 24 solar mini-grids in rural northern Nigeria, electrifying approximately 52,000 households and anchored by a productive use financing facility for agricultural processing enterprises
• A 120MW onshore wind project in Tanzania’s Southern Highlands — the largest wind transaction in Crestmont’s history and one of the largest private wind investments ever completed in East Africa

These three initial investments represent a combined project value of approximately $310 million and will draw on $86 million of CACEF II’s committed equity, alongside senior debt and concessional facilities arranged separately.

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Advisor and Transaction Team

Crestmont International was advised by Allen & Overy LLP as fund counsel (London office), with local legal counsel provided by Anjarwalla & Khanna in Kenya, Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie in Nigeria, and Bowmans in Tanzania and Ghana. Fund administration was provided by Apex Group.

The Fund’s ESG assessment and Article 9 classification was independently verified by Sustainalytics, and impact measurement frameworks were developed in partnership with the Impact Management Platform (IMP).

Crestmont’s internal transaction team was led by Managing Director of Energy Kwame Asante-Boateng, supported by Chief Investment Officer Sarah Mensah, Head of Capital Markets James Odhiambo, and Head of Impact & ESG Dr. Amina Kolade, together with the firm’s origination teams in Nairobi and Lagos.

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About Crestmont International

Crestmont International is a leading investment advisory and asset management firm focused on unlocking the full potential of underserved markets, with a primary emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the firm operates across four global offices — Nairobi, Lagos, London, and Washington DC — and has to date mobilised more than $2.4 billion in capital across energy, real estate, advisory, and conservation finance mandates in over 30 countries.

Crestmont’s integrated platform — comprising Crestmont Energy, Crestmont Real Estate, Crestmont Access, and the Fund for Nature — is uniquely positioned to originate, structure, and manage investments that deliver both competitive financial returns and measurable development impact.

For further information, please visit crestmontinternational.com or contact the Communications team at press@crestmontinternational.com.

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