Swedfund invests in resource efficiency in India and Bangladesh

Over the past year Swedfund has assessed a number of investment opportunities in the resource efficiency space in order to broaden Swedfund’s scope within climate and further align Swedfund’s mission with the Paris Agreement. Swedfund, as one of several European development finance institutions, has now invested in South Asia Growth Fund II (SAGF II), a fund which will back businesses promoting energy and water efficiency improvements mainly in India but also in Bangladesh.

There is a significant potential for resource efficiency improvements in the region: businesses and individuals are underserved in terms of basic utilities, such as electricity and water, and acute shortages of supply spur a need for investments. At the same time, the regulatory and institutional frameworks for such investments is improving in order to facilitate the mobilization of capital to the sectors, but capital remains scarce.

- From a Swedfund perspective this gives us an opportunity to bridge the resource efficiency financing gap and be additional by investing to increase access to clean water, sanitation and renewable energy, says CEO Maria Håkansson.

The fund has now reached its first close at 130 million dollars, of which Swedfund accounts for 15 million dollars.

The SAGF II fund will invest in businesses promoting cleaner sources of energy, energy efficiency and water and sanitation improvements. The bulk of the funds will go towards India, though the entity will also invest in companies in Bangladesh (up to a maximum of 20% of the Fund).