Africa Go Green Fund provided a $18m (Shs64.5bn) senior debt facility to finance Cold Solutions Kazi Limited’s construction of a cold storage facility in Namanve Industrial Park, according to a news release.
Cold Solutions Kazi Limited is the local operational partner in a joint venture with the Nairobi-based Arch Cold Chain Solutions East Africa Fund, which aims to become a regional provider of cold chain solutions in East Africa. The loan will finance the construction of a cold storage facility with capacity for up to 8,000 pallets, as well as providing working capital.
Arch Cold Chain Solutions East Africa is developing facilities with an estimated total installed capacity of 102,000 pallets across up to six countries in East Africa, in order to address the shortage of temperature-controlled storage facilities in the region. The facilities will be “supported by a fleet of refrigerated trucks to ensure comprehensive, end-to-end cold chain logistics for both domestic and cross-border markets.”
The fund anticipates that 90 per cent of its clients in the region will be from the food and agribusiness sectors, while the remaining 10 per cent will be pharmaceutical companies, supermarkets, and quick service restaurants.
“The [Namanve] facility is designed to enable seamless trade at the national, regional, and international levels, strengthening supply chains and reducing food loss. In addition to supporting the food sector, the facility will also offer specialised cold storage for pharmaceuticals, ensuring strict compliance with temperature control requirements for high-value medical products,” the release said.
The Africa Go Green Fund provides debt financing to businesses and projects in the sectors of industrial energy efficiency, green buildings, clean transport, and green appliances. It was established by KfW, the German state-owned investment and development bank, to promote private investments that mitigate or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fund currently has $166m in committed capital.
Africa Go Green is managed by Cygnum Capital Group, an investment bank and asset manager with offices in London, Nairobi, Lagos, Amsterdam, and Dubai.
