Helios CLEAR Fund SCSp (FMO-63044)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Jul 23, 2024
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
The Helios Climate, Energy, Adaptation and Resilience Fund
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 10.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 400.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Media Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ FMO website

Updated in EWS Sep 12, 2024

Disclosed by Bank Jan 17, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the aim is to bring much needed growth capital to companies with meaningful climate mitigation and adaptation impact in Africa. The Fund will focus on growth capital investments in mid-cap businesses with high growth potential in the key themes noted above, alongside reliable and trustworthy partners. CLEAR's return outcomes extend beyond capital appreciation, including seek to avoid and reduce carbon emissions, enabling sectors and populations to become more resilient and to adapt to climate change, improved ESG standards and performance, aligned to international standards and increased development impact that supports a wider stakeholder community.

CLEAR is unique in that it is the only Pan-African fund explicitly targeting dual climate benefit (mitigation and adaptation). Furthermore, the Fund targets growth capital investments in mid-cap companies which will support job creation and economic development, and contributes to market creation by enabling private sector development in African markets underserved by private equity. Lastly, at an investee level, CLEAR is expected to support companies implementing operational and financial improvements as well as best practice corporate governance and ESG risk management capabilities.
In collaboration with the CLEAR team, FMO expects to promote SDG13 (Climate Action), SDG7 (Access to Affordable Clean Energy), SDG8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth), SDG9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDG5 (Gender Equality). These objectives are aligned with the mandates of both the Dutch Fund for Climate & Development and Building Prospects. As a consequence, FMO intends to contribute to CLEAR from each of these mandates to CLEAR, as well as from its own balance sheet.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

This Fund will have the E&S risk category B+ as some of the investments in the currently presented pipeline are assessed as medium to high risk. CLEAR has demonstrated a strong commitment to implementing high ESG standards in their investments. They have strengthened their in-house capability to do so and FMO will support the manager in further developing and implementing ESG best practices.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Total FMO financing: USD 10.00 MLN
Funding: LUF

Helios aims to raise $400 million and become the largest Africa-focused climate fund

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

The Helios Climate, Energy, Adaptation and Resilience Fund ("CLEAR", "the Fund") is a private equity fund being raised by Helios Investment Partners, a leading Pan-African PE firm. CLEAR is a Paris-aligned climate fund dedicated to securing a low-carbon growth trajectory for Africa. The Fund is an 'article 9 Fund' according to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation classification system. The Fund adopts a 'climate first' lens and is targeting dual climate benefits - both mitigation and adaptation - through investments in mid-cap businesses across five key themes (green energy solutions, climate-smart agribusiness, green transport and logistics, resource efficiency and climate enablers).

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Helios Investment Partners Parent Company -

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No contacts available at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

As part of FMO's ex-ante disclosure (disclosure of transactions before contracting), you can send requests or questions for additional information to: disclosure@fmo.nl

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF FMO

Communities who believe they will be negatively affected by a project funded by the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) may be able to file a complaint with the Independent Complaints Mechanism, which is the joint independent accountability mechanism of the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and the German Investment Corporation (KfW). A complaint can be filed in writing, by email, post, or online. The complaint can be filed in English or any other language of the complainant. The Independent Complaints Mechanism is comprised of a three-member Independent Expert Panel and it can provide either problem-solving, compliance review or both, in either order. Additional information about this accountability mechanism, including a guide and template for filing a complaint, can be found at: https://www.fmo.nl/independent-complaints-mechanism

How it works

How it works