Stockholm (NordSIP) – Swedfund joined three other European Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to invest in BluePeak Private Capital Fund II (BPCF II), facilitating the funds’ close. BPCF II is a pan-African private credit fund focused on addressing the financing needs of mid-sized businesses in Africa, with an emphasis on ESG best practices and meaningful impact.
The total investment commitment is worth a total US$80 million, of which Swedfund represents US$20 million. The remaining US$60 million is to be provided by British International Investment (BII) (US$30 million), Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) (US$15 million), and Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM) (US$15 million).
“This investment supports Swedfund’s goal of reducing poverty by enabling businesses to grow sustainably and increasing access to essential services and capital. We invest to increase financial inclusion and strengthen the private sector’s ability to create jobs, especially for women and young people”, says Jakob Larsson, Senior Investment Manager, Swedfund.
Supporting Mid-Market
BPCF II seeks to address a financing gap in Africa’s mid-market segment. Large enterprises and small and micro businesses in terms of revenue, employee size, and market share have tended to receive a lot of attention from large financing institutions, NGOs and microfinance entrepreneurs. However, businesses that fall within the middle of that range remain critically underfunded.
These companies often lack access to traditional financing due to insufficient collateral or limited credit history, despite their potential to generate jobs, expand access to essential services, and strengthen local value chains. Focus countries include Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania
BPCF II will invest in strategic sectors, including food manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, industrial packaging, and financial services—industries with the potential to deepen local value chains and foster industrial clusters. With a strong focus on gender inclusion, the Fund is 2X Challenge qualified, promoting women’s economic empowerment as a core objective.
“We are proud to have the support of leading European DFIs as we continue to scale our mission of backing resilient and defensive businesses across high-growth markets. Their commitment is a strong vote of confidence in our strategy to combine performance with impact, and it plays a critical catalytic role in mobilizing the capital needed to close the significant funding gap across the continent. Raising Fund II in less than four years since the first close of Fund I is a testament to sustained investor confidence driven by continued value creation and strategic positioning in the market,” Walid Cherif, Managing Partner, BluePeak said.
A Sustainable Investment
BluePeak integrates sustainability considerations throughout its investment process, prioritising resilience, inclusive growth, and long-term value creation. Through this partnership, the EDFI consortium aims to support BPCF II in providing capital to African businesses that demonstrate both commercial viability and the potential to deliver measurable development outcomes.
FMO notes that BluePeak has a very experienced and professional management team dedicated to building a world-class fund management business that upholds the highest ESG standards. The Dutch DFI also rank the fund’s environmentl and social risk as B, some of the investments in the currently presented pipeline are assessed as medium to high risk.
“BluePeak has demonstrated a strong commitment to implementing high ESG standards in its investments. The Fund has accumulated significant in-house capability to do so, and FMO will continue to support the fund manager in further developing and implementing ESG best practices,” FMO says on its profile of BPCF II.
