CASE STUDY
InfraCredit
CATEGORY
Supply; Demand
Capital market tool
Exit Mobilisation; Anchoring
Geography
Nigeria
LISTING EXCHANGE
NASD OTC Securities Exchange
SECTOR
Infrastructure; Financial Services
DFI / DONOR INTERVENTION
MOBILIST (NGN 9.5 billion); GuarantCo (PIDG); FSD Africa
TRANSACTION SIZE
NGN 27 billion (approx. USD 17.7 million)
TRANSACTION YEAR
2025
Structure and Capital Market Tool
In April 2025, InfraCredit converted to a Public Limited Company and listed by introduction on Nigeria's NASD OTC Securities Exchange. It raised NGN 27 billion (USD 17.7 million) in new equity, with the full listing valued at NGN 64 billion (USD 41 million). New investors included the UK government's MOBILIST programme, which contributed NGN 9.5 billion, and two Nigerian pension funds. This broadened InfraCredit's shareholder base, which also includes local insurers Leadway Assurance and AIICO, alongside development funders such as the African Finance Corporation (AFC), InfraCo Africa, KfW Development Bank, and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The listing will fund InfraCredit's continued expansion while shifting ownership towards domestic institutions, which are expected to hold 40–50% of equity over time.
The listing was deliberately structured to broaden investor participation, enhance transparency, improve price discovery, and provide financial flexibility for future growth. NASD was selected as the listing venue based on its prior relationship with InfraCredit through the listing of guaranteed bonds and its position as a platform seeking to democratise capital market access in Nigeria.
In November 2025, MOBILIST facilitated a secondary sale of its listed shares in InfraCredit, selling its investment to five Nigerian pension funds and thus helping to mobilise more local institutional investment towards infrastructure development.
Background and Market Context
Nigeria faces a USD 2.3 trillion infrastructure financing gap from 2021 to 2043, while long-term capital is scarce in local banking markets due to maturity mismatches and regulatory constraints on extended-tenor lending. Historically, Nigerian institutional investors have largely avoided infrastructure investments. Their portfolios are concentrated in government securities because of limited product availability, risk-averse mandates and insufficient understanding of infrastructure as an asset class.
InfraCredit was founded by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), a quasi-government entity, and GuarantCo, the UK-backed infrastructure guarantee company and member of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), to address this challenge by issuing local currency guarantees that enhance infrastructure project creditworthiness. The company leverages its 'AAA' local credit rating to make infrastructure debt instruments attractive to a broader universe of domestic institutional investors.
Since its establishment in 2017, InfraCredit has mobilised NGN 264 billion in infrastructure financing through the Nigerian bond markets, using comprehensive guarantees to support approximately 20 infrastructure projects. Nineteen Nigerian pension funds have become infrastructure bond investors as a result of its operations, introducing a new asset class to local Nigerian savers.
Since 2022, FSD Africa has partnered with InfraCredit to fund its Technical Assistance facility, which covers the upfront costs that would otherwise prevent creditworthy infrastructure SMEs from accessing domestic bond markets.
Development Impact
InfraCredit's listing illustrates two dimensions of the PMC's strategic framework simultaneously. It is a supply-side intervention, representing an asset backed by development capital brought to market. InfraCredit also illustrates a demand-side intervention, where a development finance actor provided an anchor investment, building confidence among local pension funds and enabling deals that might otherwise not have reached the market.
A pipeline valued at over NGN 750 billion (USD 500 million) demonstrated local demand for guarantee products and appetite to invest in new asset classes. These investments generated employment, addressed infrastructure constraints limiting productivity, and contributed to climate objectives through renewable energy exposure. Moreover, InfraCredit's operations have had a cumulative systemic effect on investor demand and risk appetite: local institutional capital in Nigeria now takes on risks it would not normally have taken and has learned to manage the risks of new asset classes.
The increase in domestic ownership strengthened InfraCredit's position as a Nigerian institution with governance vested in local stakeholders, enhancing legitimacy, sustainability and alignment with national priorities. The transaction gave pension funds direct experience with infrastructure equity, building capabilities deployable in other development finance investments and building confidence in the market.
The secondary sale established a working model for responsible exits that strengthened market development. In particular, it validated the widely understood preference among Nigerian institutional investors to purchase listed equity on the secondary market in a predictable, less time-sensitive manner. The MOBILIST exit offers a clear example of how development finance actors can recycle their scarce catalytic capital while ensuring exits do not undermine supported institutions or markets.
PIDG has replicated the InfraCredit model in Pakistan (InfraZamin, 2021, with Karandaaz) and Kenya (Dhamana Guarantee Company, 2024, with the AfDB), each providing local currency guarantees to channel domestic institutional savings into infrastructure.