Announcement has been made regarding the resignation of Mr. Anshul Rai, the co-founder and longstanding CEO of Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund, which is Africa’s premier listed infrastructure investment trust managed by Chapel Hill Denham.
In an official notification submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, it was disclosed that Rai will officially step down from his position on June 30, 2024. Despite this, he will remain an integral part of NIDF by serving on the Investment Committee.
Having played a key role in establishing NIDF nearly ten years ago, Rai assumed the position of CEO back in December 2015.
NIDF made history by becoming the first infrastructure investment trust to be publicly listed on the Nigerian Exchange last October, subsequent to its listing on FMDQ on July 17, 2017.
Mr. Saurabh Srivastava, who currently holds a directorial position in Infrastructure and Climate at Chapel Hill Denham, has been appointed as Rai’s successor.
Meanwhile, NIDF’s net asset value saw a notable increase of 12.62%, climbing to N103.31bn in 2023 from N91.73bn in the preceding year. Similarly, its profit nearly doubled to N20.378bn from N10.29bn in 2022.
The fund manager declared a dividend of N21.86 per share in 2023.
Offering insights into its operations for the year, NIDF stated, “Throughout the year ending December 2023, significant progress was made in diversifying the portfolio of infrastructure loans, funding viable infrastructure projects on favorable terms. The infrastructure loan portfolio of the fund expanded to 26 (from 24 in 2022) loans totaling N85.813bn (compared to N63.124bn in 2022).
Furthermore, “The fund’s loan portfolio exhibited satisfactory performance during the year, with borrowers meeting their obligations to the fund punctually. Additionally, Series 9 of fundraising was effectively concluded during 2023, resulting in a total raise of N11.441bn by issuing approximately 106.350 million units (‘Series 9’).”