The UK’s development finance institution made nearly 60 per cent of its total investments in Africa in the last 12 months
British International Investment, the UK’s impact investor and development finance institution, today announced that it had made £1.07 billion of investments in Africa in 2025.
The figure represented 59 per cent of BII’s total investments over the year – underlining its enduring commitment to the African continent.
BII also announced today that its climate commitments have exceeded $1 billion in a single year. Over the last four years, BII made $3.3 billion (£2.6 billion) of climate finance investments.
Climate finance qualifying investments included a wide range of commitments – from utility-level renewable energy generation projects in countries like Egypt to e-mobility start-ups in Kenya.
The 2025 figures are contained in BII’s Annual Review, which will be published on Friday. BII in total made £1.8 billion of investments over the year, with £1.07 billion going to African businesses and £712 million committed to companies in Asia. About £40 million of commitments were made in Ukraine.
Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria remain BII’s four largest African markets in terms of portfolio size. As part of BII’s new strategy, unveiled earlier this year, at least 25 per cent of its new investments will be made in frontier markets – those designated by the UN as the least developed countries in the world.
BII said its annual portfolio level return over a seven-year weighted average was 3.8 per cent and it now had investments in nearly 1,700 companies.
Chris Chijiutomi, Managing Director and Head of Africa at BII, said: “BII has been supporting African businesses for nearly eight decades. Our 2025 commitment further underlines our unwavering support to the continent as we continue to focus on supporting the growth of businesses and helping to create quality jobs across the continent.”
Climate finance deals in 2025 included:
- The Allianz ACE Fund: A BII anchored blended finance fund with $150m of DFI commitments that is set to mobilise $850 million from private institutions
- The Gulf of Suez Wind Farm and the Obelisk solar and battery storage development in Egypt
- ARC Ride: a pioneering electric motorbike manufacturer and battery-swapping company in Nairobi, Kenya
Earlier this year, BII deepened its climate finance commitments, with the launch of British Climate Partners, a £1.1 billion initiative designed to mobilise large‑scale institutional capital into climate solutions across fast-growing and coal-dependent economies in Asia.
In her statement in the Annual Review, BII’s Chair, Diana Layfield, said: “The past year has been defined by global shifts that are reshaping the landscape for development finance. As we conclude our current strategy period and look ahead to the next, it is clear the world in which we operate has become more complex and more demanding of long‑term investment.“Financing for development is changing. At the same time, the gap between countries – particularly the most climate‑ and conflict‑vulnerable – is widening. And the urgency of tackling climate change is greater than ever. This context underscores the need for more effective partnerships, greater mobilisation of private capital and investment that delivers sustainable economic growth.”