CDC, the UK’s development financial institution, has announced the appointment of Tony Morgan as its new Managing Director, Direct Equity.

Morgan will lead a team over 100 impact investment professionals in CDC’s Direct Equity division and will report directly to Chief Executive Nick O’Donohoe.

Morgan has nearly 20 years’ experience as an equity investor.

He has held senior roles at Permira, Alchemy Partners, CPPIB and most recently, as a Managing Director of Onex.

His investment experience brings huge value that will support CDC in its commitment to invest $6bn from 2018 – 2021 across Africa and Asia, as it works towards the UN Global Goals.

Morgan studied Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Cambridge and earlier in his career, worked as an engineer and management consultant.

He was also a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Business School, where he earned his MBA in 2001.

Commenting on his appointment, Morgan said: “I’m hugely excited about joining CDC. I am motivated by its innovative approach to investing capital to work towards the Global Goals. Its direct equity business is expanding; I’m delighted to be a part of its future as we invest in responsible and sustainable businesses across Africa and Asia.”

CDC has spent 70 years creating partnerships through investing equity into businesses.

It supports responsible and commercial growth of businesses in some of the worlds most challenged markets.

Concurrently, it focuses on advancing development impact strategies that bring businesses value beyond long-term capital commitment.

Its capital is patient and flexible, typically investing equity between $10m and $150m depending on the businesses growth ambitions.

CDC works across multiple sectors including financial services, infrastructure, food and agriculture and real estate.

There are over 100 businesses in its direct equity portfolio, valued at $1.5bn.

Last year CDC invested $180m equity in Liquid Telecom, the largest independent fibre and cloud provider in Africa, helping to improve access to affordable and reliable internet to help build the economic strength of communities and businesses, targeting a key part of UN Sustainable Development Goal #9.

More recently, it successfully completed its first direct equity investment in Myanmar and backed BigBasket, India’s leading online wholesale grocer that provides a direct route to market for smallholder farmers, as well as contributing to large-scale employment in India.

Nick O’Donohoe, CDC’s CEO, said: “Our core mission is to invest capital to improve people’s lives in Africa and Asia. Last year, we invested over $1.4bn

in our markets. Tony brings extensive investment experience to our direct equity business, we look forward to building many more partnerships as we support a business’s growth over the long-term.”