The Africa Integras Fund is being launched by the Christie Company to pursue university community partnerships in Africa focused on investing in affordable student housing and educational facilities in mixed-use development projects.
Our Investment Strategy in Africa
We
co-locate educational facilities with compatible private uses to cross-finance
the construction of public facilities with private development. Not
only does this strategy ensure affordability for the university but it
also ensures that the university will be strategically planned to optimally
utilize its role as an economic anchor around which large-scale commercial
and residential demand will cluster. As we serve as the long-term
strategic development partner for our universities, this strategy provides
the fund with a positive exposure to a desirable pipeline of future development
opportunities throughout the life of the agreement with the university.
There is no environment more than in emerging markets such as Africa
where the gap between demand and supply for educational facilities and
particularly universities is as wide. With the Africa Integras
Fund, we bring our mission and development approach to locations where
pent up demand for education and quality urban development are at historic
highs. Because of our proprietary network of international partners
and unique expertise in the fields of education reform and public private
partnerships, we are often approached directly by universities in Africa
to become the preferred development partner for large-scale expansion
projects. These partnerships are the basis for the fund’s initial
investments. Applying our unique development strategy to desirable
urban university environments with aggressive population growth creates
a long-term deal pipeline with positive exposure to enormous market demand
that gravitates to major economic anchors like universities.
Our Competitive Advantage
Our
competitive advantage in Africa is the proprietary expertise of the management
and board on structuring complex public private partnerships and executing
university development projects. Our advantage is
also the respect our experiences garner among universities, multilateral
institutions and local and foreign governments. The board of directors
and advisory board members include pioneers from the real estate investment
industry as well as prominent international university administrators
and highly respected African public intellectuals. The credibility of
our combined track records bring us a first mover advantage, which we
enhance with several financial innovations that create “win-win” strategic
partnerships with universities while increasing the credit-worthiness
of the overall investments. Finally, our attention to delivering
maximum social impact in our target markets and long-term financial sustainability
for the university has brought several of our initial investments directly
to management without participating in competitive tender processes.
Investment Criteria for The Africa Integras Fund
- Projected university enrollment increases of at least 5,000 additional students in 5 years and/ or immediate needs for student dormitories for at least 2,000 beds.
- Minimum project equity of $2 million up to $10 million with potential to increase equity for multi-phase projects.
- Population growth in local markets of at least 5% annually or extremely pent up commercial market demands from tourism or other market conditions.
- Property focus: Institutional, Multi-family, Commercial, Industrial, Leisure and Retail.
- Convenient access to major transportation hubs and appropriate road infrastructure.
- Geographic focus: Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
The Christie Company
373 Park Avenue South, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10016
T (212) 208-1426
F (212) 858-7750
info@christiecompany.com