Mirova Gigaton Fund, a blended finance debt fund managed by Mirova, the sustainable investing arm of Natixis Investment Managers, has raised US$171 million for its first closing. The fund aims to accelerate the clean energy transition in emerging countries mainly in Africa and Asia Pacific, as well as Latin America and the Middle East. It is supported by Mirova SunFunder an impact investor which provides clean energy financing, primarily in Africa. The fund’s target size is US$500 million and expects to deploy US$1.2 billion of private debt throughout its life, largely to small and medium-sized enterprises in solar home systems, agri-solar, commercial and industrial solar, telecom tower solarization, mini-grids and other sectors such as e-mobility, battery storage, climate-smart food systems, energy efficiency and carbon credit pre-financing. Classified as Article 9 under Europe’s SFDR, the fund addresses a number of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including offsetting CO2 emissions (SDG 7, SDG 13), creating jobs (SDG 8), advancing gender equality (SDG 5) and improving energy access (SDG 7, SDG 8, SDG 5).
