Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund deploys $250 million additional capital

20 Apr 2016
Financial Nigeria

Summary

NSIA is pursuing its healthcare investment programme, which involves the construction of five medical diagnostic centres and specialist hospitals.

Uche Orji, Managing Director, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), manager of Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, will begin to deploy the additional $250 million investment capital approved by the federal government in November 2015.

Uche Orji, NSIA’s CEO, has said the NSIA will allocate 40 percent of the fund to the financing infrastructure of projects through one of its ring-fenced funds, Nigeria Infrastructure Fund (NIF). The NIF focuses on domestic infrastructure investments in areas such as agriculture, healthcare, real estate, power, and roads. These sectors are part of the 15 investable sectors contained in NSIA’s Infrastructure Rolling Plan.

Another 40 percent will be allocated to the NSIA’s Future Generations Fund (FGF), which focuses on investing in a broad range of assets that provide real growth in excess of inflation. The remaining 20 percent will be allocated to the NSIA’s Stabilization Fund (SF), which focuses on investing in assets that can act as a buffer against short-term macroeconomic stability.

As part of its commitment to the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure, Orji said the NSIA has already commenced the early works for the construction of the Second Niger Bridge.

“Having successfully completed this undertaking in January 2016, coupled with the recent passing of the budget, which expressly contained allocations to the project, engagements toward facilitating financial close have been given added impetus. Once the Concession Agreement and supporting documents are executed, the project is expected to move to financial close,” Orji said.

In the healthcare sector, Orji said the NSIA is pursuing its healthcare investment programme, which involves the construction of five medical diagnostic centres and a specialist hospital in federal hospitals located in the six geopolitical regions in Nigeria.

“The Authority signed a binding agreement with a consortium of private sector diagnostic center operators to develop, construct and operate the diagnostic centers. This will bring best-in-class technical expertise to the process and enhance overall service quality,” Orji said.

According to Orji, the first phase of the programme will commence with three projects: Federal Medical Center, Umuahia (South-East) and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (North-West) will commence in the first half of this year while the project development for the specialist hospital to be cited in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) (South-West) is expected to commence in Q2 2016.

“Federal hospitals in each of the remaining three geo-political zones – North-Central, South-South and North-East – have been identified for potential development of diagnostic centers, and are expected to commence development work following approval from the Federal Ministry of Health,” Orji said.

As for the real estate sector, Orji said the NSIA plans to work with institutional investors and other sovereign funds to create a real estate investment vehicle to develop large scale commercial real estate projects in Nigeria.



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