Partners
The institutions behind Nigeria's first syndicated blended finance facility for distributed renewable energy.
The Syndicate Behind the Pilot.
The Green Finance and Investment Facility did not begin as a platform. It began as a conversation. REA approached Barton Heyman Ltd to explore financing solutions for Nigeria's distributed renewable energy sector, and it was REA's openness to challenge and to ambition that created the conditions for something larger to emerge. BHL's counter-proposition was to design a blended finance architecture that could leverage REA's unparalleled project pipeline and grant mechanisms to crowd in private capital at national scale. REA's willingness to embrace that vision is the origin of what became GFIF. The result is a programme that is private-led, government-supported, and designed from the outset for national scale and global replication.
The Pilot Transaction brought together First City Monument Bank as co-lender and transaction bank, and ARM Harith Infrastructure Investment Limited as equity co-investor, completing the coordinated instrument that closed Nigeria's first syndicated blended finance facility for distributed renewable energy.
Platform Architecture
Barton Heyman Ltd
Programme Manager · Lead Arranger · General PartnerBarton Heyman Ltd is the General Partner, Lead Arranger, and Programme Manager of GFIF. BHL designed the platform architecture, assembled the institutional syndicate, and manages execution across all three windows of the facility. BHL is a Lagos-based transaction advisory and fund structuring firm.
Rural Electrification Agency
Results-Based FinancingThe Rural Electrification Agency of Nigeria serves as the institutional anchor of the GFIF platform. REA administers the DARES programme, providing $126 million in results-based grant financing and the sovereign pipeline credibility that the GFIF model requires to function.
Pilot Transaction Partners
First City Monument Bank
Co-Lender · Transaction BankFirst City Monument Bank serves as co-lender and transaction bank for the GFIF Pilot Facility, providing commercial debt capital and managing the disbursement and collections infrastructure that keeps the facility operationally sound.
ARM Harith Infrastructure Investment Limited
Equity Co-InvestorARMHIIL is Nigeria's leading infrastructure fund manager and the equity co-investor in the GFIF Pilot Facility, providing Nigerian institutional equity capital alongside qualifying project developers and bringing deep local infrastructure investment expertise to the platform.
Technical Design Partner
UK PACT
Technical Design PartnerUK PACT, an FCDO programme, supported the technical design phase of the GFIF platform, providing the rigour that underpins its architecture and its readiness for international replication.
Pilot Transaction Context
The GFIF Pilot Syndicated Financing Facility leverages concessional grants provided to qualifying developers under the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up programme, a World Bank-supported initiative managed by the Rural Electrification Agency of Nigeria. The Pilot Facility was structured specifically to provide the private debt and equity capital that DARES grant recipients need to reach financial close, crowding in institutional financing alongside public grants.
GFIF as a platform is not limited to DARES-linked transactions. The Pilot Transaction leverages the DARES pipeline as its first proof of concept. The broader GFIF platform is designed to operate across any credible sovereign or institutional pipeline that meets its bankability criteria.
Building the International Syndicate.
Advanced discussions are ongoing with leading development finance institutions. Formal commitments will be announced as they are confirmed.
African Development Bank
Concessional DebtExploring a concessional debt tranche to optimise the blended cost of capital across the facility.
African Guarantee Fund
Guarantee InstrumentIn discussion on a guarantee instrument to provide credit enhancement for commercial co-lenders.
ATIDI
Credit InsuranceExploring portfolio commissioning risk credit insurance to cover the construction exposure window.
International Finance Corporation
DFI PartnerIn advanced discussions as a development finance institutional partner to the GFIF platform.
Join the Syndicate.
GFIF is actively building its international institutional syndicate ahead of the platform launch at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye in November 2026. We welcome conversations with development finance institutions, commercial banks, guarantee providers, and impact investors who share our commitment to scaling distributed energy finance in Nigeria.