Norwegian investment fund Norfund plans to invest in the renewable energy and finance sectors in Ghana in the framework of its expansion strategy in West Africa, Bloomberg reported on February 7 citing one the firm’s executive.  

“Norfund started looking at opportunities in West Africa during the second half of last year. We’ve already identified two opportunities in the financial-services and clean-energy businesses in Ghana,” said Deepak Malik (photo), head of Norfund’s Johannesburg office which until now made most of the fund’s investments in Southern and Eastern Africa.

“We’ve reached a stage of maturity where we can expand into other parts of Africa,” he added indicating that Norfund intended to open an office in Accra. Malik also said Norfund could make investments in Nigeria.

“We are more familiar with English speaking West Africa so we have initially decided to start with Ghana and maybe go on to Nigeria,” he highlighted.

With offices in Johannesburg, Maputo and Naroibi, Norfund has, up till now, invested $1.5 billion in Africa. Its biggest investments include a 12.5% participation in the Lake Turkana wind farm in Kenya, Africa’s biggest wind project, and a stake acquisition in Kenyan banking group Equity Bank. The Norwegian fund also invested, among others, in solar energy in Rwanda, biogas production in South Africa as well as in banks in Uganda and Zimbabwe.