Pacific Investment Management Co. has agreed to lend a South African state development bank 3-billion rand ($210 million), the first deal in a United Nations program to fund green energy in Africa. The debt securities from Pimco, which manages $2.2 trillion in assets, will be used to refinance debt that South Africa’s Development Bank of Southern Africa has in renewable projects, with the funding to go toward investing in additional capacity. Ongoing interest from our stakeholders in well-structured products that also achieve tangible progress for sustainable energy development in Africa.
Failure of rich nations to live up to their pledge to provide $100 billion a year to help poor countries combat climate change and transition to green energy has been an impetus for the program. Several other deals are under discussion that could follow South Africa and Pimco had an appetite for an amount four times the size of the initial deal. There are many more countries that I think now will come behind because everybody waits for the first mover.