Islamic Infrastructure Fund aquired 13% in CAEPCO

The Islamic Infrastructure Fund (IIF) acquired a share in the capital of Central Asian Electric Power Corporation (CAEPCO). The agreement was signed on April 25 in Almaty, Tengrinews.kz reports. Central-Asian Electric-Power Corporation (CAEPCO) is an integrated power holding. The Islamic Infrastructure Fund (IIF) is mutual fund of the Islamic Development bank (IDB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The IIF will invest $50 million into CAEPCO. The money will be used to increase generation capacities of CAEPCO in Pavlodar and North Kazakhstan oblasts. This is IIF's first investment in Central Asia, CEO of CapAsia Johan Bastin said. Capital Advisors Partners Asia (CapAsia) is the Fund's managing company. “We were attracted to CAEPCO by its professional management, corporate culture and excellent reputation transparency and good operation record. We consider Kazakhstan a major market for the IIF because of the Kazakh Government’s commitment to attraction of private companies to development and financing of the country’s infrastructure. We are hoping to implement a number of projects here,” Bastin said. It is planned to enhance environmental friendliness of the company's production, improve waste utilization and modernize the heating systems to reduce the losses of electric and heat energy. According to CAEPCO president Yerkyn Amirkhanov, the company’s current generation capacity makes 942 megawatt. This investment will help fund a 20 percent (200 megawatt) increase of the capacity. David Osborne, CapAsia managing director, said that the IIF’s capital makes 300 million dollars. 20-25 percent of the funds (up to 100 million) are expected to be invested in Kazakhstan. The main sectors for these investments are energy companies, transport and logistics, he said. Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia are among the countries to invest in. The main capital comes from the Islamic Development Bank. “Average size of our deals is 20-30 million dollars,” Osborne said. “The investment of Islamic Infrastructure Fund into CAEPCO is of great importance not only for our company, but also for the entire power sector of the country. The deal confirms that power industry in Kazakhstan is becoming very attractive for private investors as well as for major international development institutes. Investment from such investors as the Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank is always considered an evidence of high confidence of international development institutes,” Aleksandr Klebanov, CAEPCO Chairman of the Board, said. The IIF is not the first international development that has a share in CAEPCO. In 2009 the company attracted equity financing from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) that now owns 24.88% of the company.