African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced that its subsidiary, Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), has taken a minority investment in Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid), a pan-African telecommunications technology group.
FEDA is a development impact-oriented subsidiary of Afreximbank, which provides equity and quasi-equity funding to companies developing trade and value-added export of goods and services in Africa.
The investment enables FEDA to become a stakeholder in Africa’s fast-growing technology infrastructure landscape, in which Liquid is a leading player. With a fibre optic network currently stretching over 100,000 km across sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s fastest growing data market regions, Liquid has direct access to international submarine cable infrastructure, as well as significant investment in data centres across the continent.
Liquid is the only operator in sub-Saharan Africa with a multi-country fibre network of such geographic breadth.
Liquid’s infrastructure, therefore, facilitates intra- and extra-African connectivity, reducing the cost of communication and trade, in line with the mandate of FEDA and Afreximbank.
According to Benedict Oramah, president of Afreximbank, FEDA’s investment in Liquid Intelligent Technologies is a landmark deal being its first investment.
“The transaction is a demonstration of FEDA’s ability to leverage Afreximbank’s network and invest in opportunities that will drive the structural transformation of trade on the continent. Liquid provides vital digital infrastructure that supports Africa’s connectivity and trade with the rest of the world. This investment will pave the way for more investments by FEDA and commences the process of building an institutional track record of successfully investing and delivering development impact on the continent,” Oramah said.
He noted that the mission of FEDA is to provide equity capital with a focus on delivering development impact in diverse sectors in Africa which are critical to driving intra-African trade and value-added export development, while providing a financial return to investors.
