Investment Associate, Project Development

• Location: Casablanca, Morocco

Description
Africa50 is a pan-African infrastructure investor and asset manager that contributes to Africa's growth by developing and investing in bankable projects, catalyzing public sector capital, and mobilizing private sector funding.

Africa50 has raised over US$1 billion so far from 33 African countries, the African Development Bank, two African Central Banks and Africa's largest pension fund, Public Investment Corporation. Africa50 has an independent investment process and seeks to generate commercial risk adjusted returns for its investments across key infrastructure sectors: Energy (including power generation and related parts of the value chain), Midstream gas, Transportation, ICT, Health infrastructure, Education and Fintech.

Principal Responsibilities
The Investment Associate role is to identify and execute project development investments.

• Participate in the development of a strong pipeline of opportunities by anticipating market trends and employing sector/sponsor/country knowledge
• Lead the structuring of project development and equity investments
• Lead financial modeling and valuation of potential investments
• Coordinate and drive various workstreams across due diligence (financial, commercial, legal, technical, ESG) process
• Participate and/or lead negotiations with sponsors, lenders, and public authorities
• Lead Africa50's contribution to the development of projects in the portfolio with a strong focus on achieving bankable projects
• Have a good understanding of project and concession financing and policy issues
• Prepare project-related documents for internal and external audiences
• Build and maintain strong relationships with local/regional/global/infrastructure companies, banking, multilateral partners, and government officials
• Develop a thorough knowledge of the power and transport sectors, including major market operators and technologies
• Contribute to supervising portfolio companies
• Mentor and supervise analysts and interns on modelling, research, and analysis

Candidate Profile
Required Background

• 6 to 10 years investment and industry experience in project development, investment and/or project finance in the power and/or transport sectors within:
• A utility/concessions company
• A project finance/infrastructure/power department of a tier 1 international investment bank
• An infrastructure department in a Development Finance Institution
• An infrastructure / PPP department of a transaction/financial advisory firm
• An infrastructure private equity fund with exposure to early-to-mid-stage project development
• Project management experience
• Solid understanding of concession agreements, PPA, EPC, O&M contracts
• Demonstrated track record of closing transactions
• Awareness of the latest trends and developments in financing infrastructure
• Bachelor's degree from a tier 1 university/Business school/Engineering school. MBA or MSc would be a plus.

Essential Qualities

• Positive attitude
• Integrity
• Unrelenting work ethic – this role will regularly require late nights/weekends/travel
• Self-starter with a sense of ownership
• Communicates and executes with precision

Knowledge, Skills And Experience

• Interest in Africa50's mission, strategy and values
• Strong connection to Africa and intent to have an Africa-focused career
• Strong understanding of the power and transport sectors
• Strong understanding of PPP project structuring and project finance
• Strong business development and client relationship skills, track record and ability to focus on clients' needs effectively and identify potential business partners
• Advanced financial modeling skills and deep understanding of capital structures
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, fluency in French, Portuguese is a plus
• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to interact effectively with sponsors, partners and colleagues from various cultural backgrounds; living experience in emerging countries is a plus
• Prior knowledge of African infrastructure sector and relationships in Africa are a strong plus

Location
Position is based in Casablanca, Morocco, with flexible working arrangements.

Application
If you are interested in this position, Click here to apply.

We appreciate the interest of all applicants; however, only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted