Abu Dhabi’s deep-pocketed sovereign wealth fund has signed a US$100 million repurchase agreement aimed at boosting the liquidity of African sovereign eurobonds and investments related to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) signed the agreement with the Ireland-based Liquidity and Sustainability Facility (LSF) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
Designed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and Afreximbank, the LSF seeks to bring the benefits of a well-developed repurchase agreement market to the African continent. Its goal is to enhance the liquidity of a basket of sovereign eurobonds across 18 issuers.
“We believe that this new facility will contribute to lowering funding costs across the region, and encourage our peers to support the African bond market,” Dhaen Al Hameli, an executive director at ADIA, says in a statement on December 4.
ADIA is one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, with approximately $853 billion of assets.