The European Investment Bank (EIB), Europe’s long-term financing institution, has announced a €30m ($33.51m) investment in the Meridiam Infrastructure Africa Fund, a pan-African fund targeting essential infrastructure projects.

Pim van Ballekom, European Investment Bank Vice Presiden, said: “Investment across Africa to improve energy, education, water and transport infrastructure is essential for economic activity and improving lives.”

“The Meridiam Infrastructure Africa Fund will help projects being implemented for the first time by sharing experience from similar schemes elsewhere, both in Africa and Europe. The European Investment Bank is committed to supporting infrastructure investment that unlocks business opportunities, reduces costs and contributes to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and this new initiative firmly supports these goals,” he said.

The fund, which is managed by Meridiam, a global investor and asset manager specializing in public and community infrastructure, is expected to make 8-10 investments, predominantly in greenfield projects, but may also invest in selected secondary projects at the operational stage.

The fund will finance infrastructure projects in the sectors of energy and power, transportation, environmental infrastructure, social infrastructure and telecommunications infrastructure in African countries.

The fund will generally seek to acquire significant minority or majority stakes of the junior/equity capital in each project with strong corporate governance rights to be able to monitor and manage project risks.

The Meridiam Infrastructure Africa Fund is currently finalizing investment in three projects, a solar photovoltaic project in Senegal, a university campus in Côte d’Ivoire and airports renovation in Madagascar.

Thierry Déau, Meridiam’s Founder and CEO, said this fund is an ideal opportunity to unleash much needed investment in African infrastructure.

“We believe we can contribute to support efforts across the continent to build capacity in infrastructure delivery to accompany and foster African growth. In this way we will collectively harness the enormous potential created by Africa's young population, burgeoning middle classes and increasingly urbanized population,” he said.

Founded in 2005, Meridiam is an independent investment firm specialized in the development, financing, and management of long-term public infrastructure projects.

With offices in Paris, New York, Toronto and Istanbul, Meridiam currently manages €3.2bn ($3.5bn) of assets.

Meridiam is one of the first investors and asset managers to receive ISO 9001 certification for its responsible investment process and is a founding member of the Long Term Infrastructure Investors Association.