Canadian-based private equity firm, JCM Capital has launched a targeted fund of up to US$150 million to support PV power plant projects in Latin and South America and Sub Saharan Africa.
The firm has previously focused on emerging markets and has funded more than 70 projects in the last five years. Such markets have been difficult to develop due to access to early-phase investment by PV project developers.
“This fund will provide investors with an attractive value proposition: the steady cash flows of infrastructure combined with the growth of emerging markets,” said Tom Heintzman, JCM Capital – managing director, Infrastructure Group. “JCM’s solar PV projects in Africa and Latin America will provide clean energy necessary to support the significant growth underway in these regions. In Africa alone, the African Development Bank estimates that more than US$40 billion annually of new electricity generation capacity is required in order to support economic growth, and solar PV will be the fastest growing form of generation in these markets.”
The company said that the fund had already secured a lead investor and secured commitments of US$15 million.
JCM’s Clean Power Development Fund V that includes utility-sized solar projects in Mexico, Ecuador, Cameroon and Malawi, is the main source for providing projects to be developed.