Industrial park developer ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (ARISE IIP) announced on Thursday a major fundraising of $443 million, marking a significant milestone in its efforts to boost industrialization across the African continent.
This capital injection comes from two key players in African development financing. The Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), a subsidiary of Afreximbank, invested $300 million, securing a significant stake in ARISE IIP. Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) complemented this funding with an additional $143 million.
Gagan Gupta, founder and CEO of ARISE IIP, hailed this partnership as “a vote of confidence in our business model and growth prospects.” This fundraising brings ARISE IIP’s total capital to over one billion dollars, with AFC as the majority shareholder, followed by FEDA and Equitane.
The investment aims to accelerate ARISE IIP’s expansion in 12 African countries, including Malawi, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Benin, and Nigeria, among others. The goal is to strengthen Africa’s position in global value chains by developing world-class industrial infrastructure.
Benedict Okey Oramah, President of Afreximbank, emphasized the importance of this investment in “driving Africa’s industrialization, promoting intra- and extra-African trade, job creation, and overall economic growth on the continent.”
This initiative is part of a long-standing relationship between ARISE IIP and Afreximbank, which has provided about $2 billion in financial support over the past 12 years.
Samaila Zubairu, CEO of AFC, expressed satisfaction with the progress already made in three countries and reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to supporting this crucial initiative for Africa’s economic transformation.
With this new investment, ARISE IIP is well-positioned to play a central role in the continent’s industrialization, economic diversification, and integration into global value chains.