Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI), through its Education Investment Impact Fund of South Africa (EduFund), recently announced its second close after successfully securing new capital commitments of ZAR825 million.

EduFund’s total commitments now surpass the ZAR1,2 billion mark. This milestone has been achieved with contributions from three new investors – the Namibian Government Institutions Pension Fund, the National Fund for Municipal Workers, and Rand Mutual Assurance – on top of an existing commitment from Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (South Africa).

Commenting on the successful fundraise, Ian Mason, Head of Impact Investing at OMAI, said: “We make commercial investments that make a positive contribution to the development of South Africa, with a focus on Social Infrastructure and Financial Inclusion. We are immensely pleased to have attracted capital commitments from such highly regarded institutional investors, who share our commitment to investing with purpose.”

EduFund’s objective is to provide investors with competitive risk-adjusted returns by making investments that improve the quality of education in South Africa across selected sub-sectors and market segments. It also seeks to make a positive social impact by contributing to employment creation, transformation, and environmental sustainability.

Established in 2020 and targeting total investor commitments of ZAR1.5 billion, EduFund is OMAI’s second education impact fund, building on the success of its predecessor fund with an expanded mandate, including independent schools, tertiary education, and ancillary education services, with a focus on the Affordable and Middle Income market segments.

OMAI has already started putting the new commitments to work, with Mason elaborating: “The new capital enables our Education team to continue making new investments and developing our pipeline towards creating or improving at least 27,000 quality learner opportunities. To date, EduFund has invested in the creation of 5,000 new learner opportunities, and has recently approved two new investments totalling ZAR560 million, using capital from this second close, into an additional 13,800 learner opportunities.”

Reflecting on EduFund’s progress towards its target of raising R1,5 billion of capital commitments, Mason commended the dedication of the Education team: “Fundraising is an immense challenge, demanding unwavering perseverance. Our deepest gratitude goes to the Education team and everyone who made invaluable contributions, ensuring we reached this milestone.”

Mason concluded by thanking their new investors and hinting at another new impact investing fund in the works.

“We are incredibly grateful to our new investors for entrusting us with their capital and we are working hard towards closing out on our target of R1,5 billion of commitments during 2024. We are also busy incubating another new impact fund, after EduFund, with a focus on the housing sector, and believe that it will be met with similar interest.”