Adenia Partners (“Adenia”), a private markets investment firm committed to responsible investing and a sustainable Africa, has completed a majority investment in Enfin, a solar financing solutions provider serving commercial and industrial clients across South Africa, as the first investment from its fifth flagship fund (“Adenia V” or “the Fund”).
The investment comes at a time when South Africa’s long-running energy crisis has significantly escalated, impacting economic growth and the quality of life for millions of people. This year, South Africans have experienced record incidences of load shedding – power blackouts of between six to 12 hours a day – threatening to plunge the most industrialized economy on the continent into recession. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has predicted 250 days of power blackout in 2023, equating to an economic loss of more than $13 billion.
Enfin aims to improve affordability of and access to electricity for South Africans by backing smart businesses, farms, sectional titles, and schools who are seeking cheaper, cleaner and more sustainable energy sources that are less reliant on unreliable power from the grid. The firm funds, maintains and insures solar solutions, enabling clients to achieve their sustainability goals with no risk and no need for capital expenditure. It aims to own, build, and operate more than 100MW of solar assets over the next five years, with potential to avoid more than 200,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year.
Adenia is partnering once again with Heine Herholdt on this transaction, following the landmark success in their collaboration on Herholdt’s, a leading importer and distributor of solar equipment in South Africa. Heine will bring his unparalleled knowledge of the commercial and industrial solar sector.
Florent de Boissieu, Partner at Adenia, said, "Enfin’s vision to fund a better future, based on the triple bottom line paradigm of people, planet and profit, aligns perfectly with our long-proven strategy to create sustainable impact while delivering financial returns. We look forward to working with Werner and the rest of the Enfin team to provide more South African businesses with energy savings and preserved capital – and as a result greater freedom to achieve their growth potential at this critical economic and environmental juncture.”
Werner Loftus, CEO of Enfin, commented, "We are thrilled to join forces with Adenia Partners, whose track record in sustainable investing speaks for itself. With Adenia’s support and guidance, we will be able to accelerate the reach of our funding solutions that support full independence from unreliable grid energy. Specifically, we will look to better support the commercial and industrial sectors that are most impacted by the current energy crisis, reducing their coal dependance and enhancing their long-term sustainability."
Adenia V, which will exceed its $400 million target fundraise, continues the firm’s long-term investment strategy of making control investments in medium-sized companies across Africa with proven business models that demonstrate ample room for operational and ESG improvements, coupled with the intentionality to generate measurable Social and Environmental Impact. A key priority for the new Fund is to drive urgent climate action across the African continent with deliberate mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change. In particular, the Fund will elaborate carbon reduction targets for all investees, steering toward a reduction in CO2 intensity over the life of the investment based on annual greenhouse gas monitoring and a bespoke action plan. At the firm level, Adenia is committed to be carbon neutral by 2027.