UK Development Finance Arm Plans Record $2.8 Billion Investment

(Bloomberg) -- British International Investment Plc, the UK government’s development-finance arm, expects to make record investments this year as it focuses on climate finance and expanding in South East Asia.

BII, as the organization is known, expects to invest as much as $2.8 billion in 2025, Leslie Maasdorp, who was appointed as its chief executive officer late last year, said in an interview in Cape Town. 

“Growing our footprint in these new markets is certainly a part of our priorities for 2025,” Maasdorp said, referring to Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. “Secondly, expanding our focus on climate.”

Maasdorp, the former chief financial officer of the New Development Bank of the BRICS group of nations, is seeking to capitalize on a boom in renewable energy that’s taking place in both South East Asia and Africa. 

“We want to deepen our focus on the climate change agenda,” he said on the sidelines of a development finance conference. “The development agenda today will be, unless we address the climate emergency, undermined.”

The expected investment, which he said will be between $2.5 billion and $2.8 billion, compares with $2.2 billion last year.

BII has helped develop renewable energy companies such as Ayana Renewable Power in India as well as Globeleq Generation Ltd. and Gridworks Development Partners LLP, which are active in Africa. 

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