Ninety One has completed the final close of Africa Credit Opportunities Fund 3 at $404 million, including leverage, expanding its ability to provide private credit to companies and infrastructure projects across Africa and other emerging markets.
The fund, known as ACO3, has already assembled more than 30 investments across several regions and sectors. Its closing pushes Ninety One’s Emerging Market Senior Credit strategy to $815 million raised across three funds, highlighting growing institutional interest in private lending outside developed markets.
Key Overview
- ACO3 reached a $404 million final close, including leverage, after securing $260 million at its first close in November 2024.
- The fund primarily targets senior secured private credit, using conservative financial leverage and structural protections for lenders.
- Its portfolio already includes more than 30 investments across Africa, Latin America, Asia and Central and Eastern Europe.
- The broader strategy has now raised $815 million across three funds and deployed more than $1.4 billion, including recycled capital.
- More than 100 counterparties across over 30 countries have received financing through the strategy.
- Development finance institutions, pension funds and family offices across Africa, Europe and North America participated in the latest fund.
ACO3 Expands Ninety One’s Private Credit Strategy
The third fund in the strategy builds on more than a decade of private-credit investing focused on Africa and other emerging economies.
ACO3 provides flexible financing primarily through senior secured credit. These loans generally rank ahead of junior debt and equity in the repayment hierarchy and can include collateral, covenants and other protections intended to limit lender risk.
The portfolio currently comprises more than 30 investments covering communications, consumer businesses, financial services, healthcare, industrials and materials. Investments have been made across Africa as well as Latin America, Asia and Central and Eastern Europe, while several positions have already been exited.
The fund is led by Steven Loubser and Kobina “Kobi” Sam, whose emerging-market alternative credit team has an 18-year track record managing private and alternative credit investments.
Institutional Investors Back the Fund
ACO3’s fundraising began with a first close of $260 million in November 2024, supported by development finance institutions seeking to increase the availability of credit for companies and infrastructure projects.
The International Finance Corporation approved an investment of up to $75 million in the fund, while British International Investment committed $30 million to help mobilise additional commercial investment into African private-credit markets.
The Swiss development finance institution also committed $15 million during the first close. Standard Bank of South Africa separately provided a $45 million sustainability-linked debt facility, where funding costs are connected to climate, carbon and social-impact targets.
The final investor base extends beyond development institutions to pension funds and family offices across Africa, Europe, the UK, the US and Canada, broadening the pool of institutional capital participating in emerging-market private credit.
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Strategy Passes $1.4 Billion in Deployment
The latest closing takes Ninety One’s Emerging Market Senior Credit strategy to $815 million raised across three funds. Since inception, the strategy has deployed more than $1.4 billion across over 100 counterparties in more than 30 countries, with that deployment figure including capital that has been recycled into new investments.
The scale is significantly higher than when ACO3 first closed in 2024, when the strategy had deployed roughly $1.2 billion. Continued deployment demonstrates how repayments and exits can allow capital to be redeployed into additional borrowers over the life of the funds.
Ninety One itself managed approximately $244 billion in assets as of June 30, 2026, making the private-credit strategy a relatively specialised part of its broader global investment-management business.
Africa’s Financing Gap Creates Private Credit Demand
The investment case rests partly on a persistent financing gap between the capital required by African businesses and infrastructure projects and the funding available through traditional banks and public markets.
Ninety One has previously argued that African private-credit markets remain relatively undercapitalised, creating opportunities for lenders able to originate and structure transactions locally. Local banks may face regulatory, balance-sheet or foreign-currency constraints, while corporate bond markets remain less developed in many countries.
Private credit can fill part of that gap by negotiating loans directly with borrowers and tailoring maturities, covenants, security and repayment structures around individual businesses or projects.
For African companies, ACO3’s closing adds another pool of long-term financing alongside bank lending, development finance, public debt and equity. For institutional investors, it provides access to a diversified portfolio of secured emerging-market credit without requiring investors to originate each loan independently.
The $404 million final close therefore represents more than another fundraising milestone. It illustrates how private markets are becoming an increasingly important channel connecting global institutional capital with businesses and infrastructure projects across Africa and other emerging economies.
Sources: Ninety One / International Finance Corporation / British International Investment / SIFEM / responsAbility
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