South Asia Growth Fund II marks first close at $130M to focus on India and Bangladesh

Global Environment Fund’s South Asia Growth Fund II (SAGF II), an investment fund dedicated to support energy and water efficiency in India and Bangladesh, has announced the first close at $130 million.

United Kingdom’s CDC Group has anchored the fund with $25 million investment, while $115 million is contributed by other European development finance institutions (DFIs) including Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, European Investment Bank, Netherlands’ FMO, France’s Proparco, Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets, and Swedfund International.

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CDC said the fund will be managed by GEF South Asia Advisors in India, a spin-out of the US-based Global Environmental Fund Capital Advisors.

The SAGF II fund will invest in businesses promoting cleaner sources of energy and industrial production, efficient utilisation of energy and materials, and sustainable management of natural resources in South Asia, Proparco said. SAGF II will mostly target companies operating in India but may also invest in similar companies in Bangladesh.

South Asia Growth Fund II has already made an initial investment in ESDS, which creates eco-friendly technologies based on its patented eNlight Cloud Technology.

In March 2019, EverSource Capital, a JV between Everstone and Lightsource, had also announced its commitment to invest over $1 billion in India’s renewable energy sector through its Green Growth Equity Fund that is backed by anchor investors like National Investments and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India and the UK government.

In February, Bengaluru-based Ayana, the renewable energy platform founded by CDC, had raised $330 million from EverSource Capital and NIIF.

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