Profile
The Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (“NIDF” or the “Fund”) is an infrastructure fund registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission, Nigeria (“SEC” or the “Commission”), with the objective of providing its unitholders regular and stable income by primarily providing debt financing to infrastructure projects and businesses located in Nigeria.
NIDF was established as a unit trust on 7 February 2017 and commenced operations on 28 June 2017. The initial units were listed on the FMDQ OTC Exchange on 17 July 2017. NIDF was listed on the Main Board of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on 5 October 2023.
NIDF focuses on making investments that offer a high degree of certainty about the future cash flows to be received by the Fund, while seeking to preserve the capital value of its investment assets over the long term. The Fund's investment portfolio of infrastructure loans and other securities targets a gross return of 3.00% to 4.50% over and above the comparable federal government bond yields prevailing from time-to-time in Nigeria.
The income generated by the Fund, in the form of coupon and fees received from the borrowers, is distributed periodically to the Unit-holders, after deducting the operating expenses of the Fund.
NIDF is sponsored by the Chapel Hill Denham group and Chapel Hill Denham Management Limited acts as the Fund Manager of NIDF. The Fund Manager is rated “A+” by Agusto & Co.
Current Portfolio
As at 31 December 2023, the portfolio of NIDF comprises twenty-six infrastructure loans aggregating N85.8 Billion. The sectoral distribution is as follows:
Portfolio Analysis
- Generation of electricity, including from renewable sources, and its transmission and distribution
- Transportation & logistics, including ports, airports, highways, railway transportation, mass transit systems, industrial zones and warehouses
- Infrastructure for provision of telecommunication services including mobile telecom towers, fibre optic networks and data centres
- Storage and transportation facilities for hydrocarbons, including natural gas
- Water treatment, transmission and distribution for domestic, commercial or industrial use, wastewater treatment and water recycling
- Provision of utilities as well as municipal and industrial waste management
- Social infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, training facilities, accommodation and similar facilities, developed primarily on PPP basis.
The Fund can also:
- be directly invested in infrastructure projects, companies or special purpose vehicles that are created for the purpose of facilitating such investments.
- facilitate loans to federal or state governments or their agencies for execution of specific infrastructure projects, based on availability of satisfactory credit support.
- invest in securities issued by owners or lenders of infrastructure projects, including securitised debt and other instruments with similar economic effect.
- directly or indirectly invest in working capital loans, subordinated debt, preferred shares or warrants of such borrowers and related assets.
As a philosophy, 80% of Fund’s assets will be invested in senior debt, securitised debt or loans to government agencies, while not more than 20% could be invested in working capital loans, subordinated debt, preferred shares or warrants.