China-Africa Development Fund


The China-Africa Development Fund, more commonly known as CAD Fund, is a Chinese private equity fund solely funded by China Development Bank, a Chinese government policy bank. The aim of the fund is to stimulate investment in Africa by Chinese companies in power generation, transportation infrastructure, natural resources, manufacturing, and other sectors.

History

The creation of CAD Fund was announced as one of the "Eight Measures" for Sino-African relations at the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation by President Hu Jintao on November 4, 2006. It was established in June 2007 with US$1 billion of initial funding by the China Development Bank and is envisioned to grow to US$5 billion in the future. The fund entered into its second round of fundraising in May 2010 to raise US$2 billion.

Investments

The fund's primary purpose is foster Sino-African investment through bridging finance, financial advice, Africa specific managerial advice, and identification of potential investment opportunities as well as connecting African projects to Chinese investors.
As of 2010 the fund had invested in 30 projects in Africa worth around US$800 million. In 2009 alone, the fund invested US$140 million of China's total US$1.3 billion invested in Africa that year. The fund primarily focused on industrial development. For example, in 2010 it teamed up with several partners by contributing 382.5 million ZAR into a 1.65 billion ZAR investment by Jidong Cement to build a cement plant in Limpopo, South Africa.
The fund has also participated in acquiring natural resource assets by forming a joint venture with China National Nuclear Corporation to acquire most of the Husab Mine for US$996 million in February 2012.
The fund made a rare move in media in December 2013 when it was the financial partner in the acquisition of 20% of Independent News and Media SA, a newspaper publishing house in South Africa, for 400 million ZAR.

List of equity investments