The Long-Term Investors Club is looking at investment opportunities in Africa

“The time has come to start complementing “development finance” by “investment finance” , says EIB President Werner Hoyer

24-5-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — The Long-Term Investors Club organized its 5th international conference in Rabat on May 24, 2013 on the theme of Investment Strategies and Opportunities in Africa, attended by many experts from the world of politics and economics.

Mr. Omar Kabbaj, adviser to H.M. King Mohamed VI, Dr. Ulrich Schröder, president of the KFW and the Long-Term Investors Club and Mr. Anass Houir Alami, managing director of the Moroccan Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion, were the opening speakers at this conference devoted to the attractiveness of the African continent for investment.

Africa is a continent in full expansion

Considered to be among the most robust economies in the world, the economies of Africa offer substantial advantages for investment:

• Economic and political stability in many countries ;
• A boom in worldwide demand for raw materials where the African continent is one of the top suppliers.

In addition, the whole continent is undergoing substantial development of its social and physical infrastructure and possesses an ever-growing pool of smart entrepreneurs, all of which combine to create a business environment favoring direct foreign investment. During the world economic recession of 2009, Africa was the only region, apart from Asia, to record positive growth – of about 2%. Since then the continent has shown continuing growth, averaging 4.5% in 2012 (compared to 3.2% worldwide, 1.3% in the USA and -0.4% in the euro zone). With it being an increasingly more attractive center for investors, especially after recent economic, political and social reforms, Africa is on the way to having the world’s second strongest regional growth rate.

Real investment opportunities

This 5th conference of the Long-Term Investors Club, organized by the Moroccan Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion, took the form of 4 discussion panels:

•  new players and instruments in long-term finance and investment;
•  challenges posed by infrastructure in Africa ;
•  supporting countries in energy development ;
•  promoting African SME and how they are financed.

Opening the 1^st panel, the President of the EIB Werner Hoyer pointed out : “Despite enormous potential, formidable challenges to development remain in Africa – a large infrastructure gap, the development of a banking system, and the need to improve the investment climate and regulatory environment, to name but a few. (…)  The time has come to start complementing “development finance” by “investment finance”. The needs of African countries are far greater than what can be covered by grants alone. (…) The blending of grants and loans is therefore increasingly sought after.  Also, co-operation among stakeholders is required to increase the impact and effectiveness of financing. (…) Furthermore, with existing and new initiatives – meant to attract long-term investment finance from other public and private sources of the kind assembled in the LTIC – we can achieve “long-term view” vs “short-termism.” He concluded : ”Together, we are able to contribute to projects of public interest that would otherwise not see the light of day (…).”

These debates, involving top level experts from more than 15 countries from Africa, Europe, America and Asia, explored investment opportunities in Africa, their risks and challenges, as well as implementation strategies.

A summary of these discussions will be available at www.ltic.org and www.cdg.ma from 28/05/2013.

About the Long-Term Investors Club

Founded in 2009 by 4 European public financial institutions (Caisse des Dépôts, Cassa depositi e prestiti, European Investment Bank (EIB) and KfW), the Club has quickly transformed itself into a worldwide platform including top international financial institutions. Today the Club is made up of 18 institutions representing assets of USD 4600 mn, making it one of the most important investment groups in the world.

Its aims are to :

–       agree on practices ;

–       encourage long-term investment research ;

–       promote partnerships and simplify joint initiatives.

Under the guidance of its members, the Long-Term Investors Club promotes the implementation of projects.

More info : www.ltic.org

Members of the Long-Term Investors Club

Canada : Caisse de Dépôt et de Placement du Québec / Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement

System (OMERS)

China : China Development Bank

European Union : European Investment Bank (EIB)

France : Caisse des Dépôts

Germany : Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW)

India : IDFC Ltd

Italy : Cassa Depositi e Prestiti

Japan : Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) / Development Bank of Japan (DBJ)

Morocco : Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion

Netherlands : Algemene Pensioen Groep (APG):

Poland : Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK)

Russia : Vnesheconombank

Spain : Instituto de Credito Oficial (ICO)

Turkey : Türkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi AS (TSKB)

United Arab Emirates : Mubadala Development Company

United States : Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF)