Investment Pipeline Building for the Asset Owners Forum of South Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

CrossBoundary Advisory

Clean Power & Energy Transition

Market: South Africa

Providing a selection of vetted investment opportunities that align with strategic goals

Capabilities:

Due diligence

Market research/analysis

Opportunity validation

Team

Modi Kutua

Associate Principal

About the Client

The Asset Owners Forum of South Africa (AOFSA) is a consortium of 15 South African pension funds with combined assets under management of US$150 billion. The AOFSA was formed to increase the participation of pension funds in South Africa in the infrastructure sector while delivering appropriate risk-adjusted returns to pension fund beneficiaries.

Engagement

CrossBoundary Advisory acted as sub-advisor to MIDA Advisors to curate a high-quality pipeline of direct infrastructure investments and potential infrastructure funds for the Asset Owners Forum of South Africa (AOFSA). The engagement aimed to offer the AOFSA a selection of vetted investment opportunities that align with their strategic goals, while also meeting rigorous risk-adjusted return criteria. This was done through:

Establishing frameworks and processes to scrutinize investment opportunities for suitability
Utilizing CrossBoundary’s expansive network to compile a list of investment-worthy infrastructure funds
Undertaking a comprehensive review of each infrastructure fund manager and presenting findings to key AOFSA committees

Approach

In fulfilling AOFSA’s objective, CrossBoundary Advisory and MIDA Advisors used the following methodology:

Evaluation Framework: Designed and implemented standardized processes and frameworks to help AOFSA member funds assess investment opportunities efficiently.

Pipeline Development: Leveraged industry connections to assemble a pipeline of vetted, investment-ready infrastructure funds for AOFSA’s consideration.

Fund Manager Review: Conducted comprehensive research and interacted with infrastructure fund managers to pre-vet their offerings and aligning them with AOFSA’s investment criteria.

Committee Engagements: Presented summarized findings of each fund manager to the AOFSA Investment Committee, offering answers to follow-up queries, and also briefed the AOFSA Steering Committee on the fund offerings that passed initial screenings.

The support provided enhanced the AOFSA’s capacity to invest in infrastructure opportunities, with a longer-term view of contributing to critical infrastructural development in South Africa.

Results

Based on desktop research, industry engagements and referrals the team presented 64 potential opportunities to AOFSA. Following an initial screen, 22 bankable infrastructure fund opportunities were selected for further discussion with AOFSA members

Achieved over US$130 million in commitments to infrastructure investments by the AOFSA

Exceeded the target of US$50 million in commitments by 260%