MADAGASCAR'S sovereign wealth fund has partnered with London-based asset manager Gemcorp Capital Management to raise as much as $5bn for energy, infrastructure and mining projects, according to Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
Andry Raharinomena, chairman of the Fonds Souverain Malagasy (FSM), said he wanted Gemcorp to help raise the funds over four years. The FSM is involved in about a dozen projects that need financing. It plans to fund three hydropower plants and some smaller solar plants, and to develop graphite, cobalt, nickel and rare earths deposits, said the newswire.
Most of the island's mineral deposits are undeveloped, and only a handful of commercial mines operate there. Raharinomena said the FSM had taken over the state's interests in a Rio Tinto mineral sands project.
Gemcorp has invested more than $10bn since 2014 and will act as an adviser at first, said Gaj Wallooppillai, its head of strategy. The firm plans to open an office in Antananarivo before the end of the year.
"That expertise is where we think we can drive enormous value," Wallooppillai said, referring to Gemcorp's record of making strategic projects bankable.
President Michael Randrianirina is an army colonel who took power in a coup last year. In July he appointed Raharinomena, a former ambassador to the UK, to run the FSM.