Investment

The IFC-World Bank Health in Africa Initiative works to improve access to finance by:

• Establishing a private equity fund to increase availability of equity finance; and
• Partnering with local commercial banks in Africa to increase availability of debt finance.

IFC has partnered with the African Development Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the German development finance institution, Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellshaft (DEG) to establish the Africa Health Fund, a $57 million fund to invest equity capital in health businesses across sub-Saharan Africa.

The goal of the fund, which is managed by Aureos Capital, is to help low-income Africans gain access to affordable, high-quality health services. An additional $40-50 million is expected to be raised for the fund from additional investors in the next year.

The fund will make investments of $250,000-$5 million in the form of equity or quasi-equity in companies focused on health service delivery, risk pooling and financing, distribution and retail, pharmaceutical and medical-related manufacturing, medical education providers, and ancillary services to the health sector.

Recent deals closed by the Fund