PIDG provided a $4m convertible loan through InfraCo to Vietnam’s fastest-growing e-motorbike company, Dat Bike, in August 2024. The loan will allow Dat Bike to more than double its production capacity through facility expansion, tool optimisation, and increased automation.

The loan is expected to facilitate the adoption of more than 30,000 e-two-wheelers in the next two years, which are expected to help avoid close to 26,000 tCO₂ each year.

Read the press release here

The Quantum S e-motorbikes ready for market

In November, Dat Bike completed the expansion of its facility. They launched their first fleet of Quantum S bikes for sale in Vietnam in December.

An overestimation of risk often restricts the availability of infrastructure capital available for growth in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).

In his article, PIDG CEO Philippe Valahu explores common misperceptions of risk, and advocates for a shift from risk aversion to risk awareness. By challenging existing risk perceptions and providing mechanisms to de-risk projects, he suggests that investors can unlock significant potential for generating returns while simultaneously contributing to climate resilience and sustainable development goals.

At PIDG, we have focused exclusively on infrastructure projects in EMDEs for over two decades. Since 2002, we have mobilised more than $25.5bn in private sector capital across 245 projects in Africa and Asia.

In the recent State of Blended Finance 2024 Climate Edition by Convergence, PIDG led the investor league table for Most frequent development agencies and multi-donor funds in climate blended finance deals by number of commitments and aggregate investment size.

Hamish Falconer and Jane Marriott at Prism Energy’s 2.5MWp solar energy site.

UK Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, and British High Commissioner Jane Marriott, recently visited Prism Energy's 2.5 MWp solar power site installed at Chakwal Textile Mills in Chakwal, Pakistan. The project served as a showcase for the kind of work that the UK Government hopes to do more of through their £108m Climate Investment Fund for Pakistan (CIFPAK).

Self-loading concrete mixture deployed to cast the vertical posts for solar panels.

Radiance InfraCo Renewables has begun work on its first project, a 21.21 MWp grid-connected solar power plant in Tamil Nadu, India. The completed solar plant will offset approx. 40% of the energy consumption by four industrial off-takers including a textile mill, an auto parts manufacturer and pharmaceutical firm. The project targets to deploy 110-150MWp renewable energy for commercial and industrial customers in India.

Khmer Cold Chain's event for elevating agricultural storage and logistics in Cambodia.

Khmer Cold Chain, PIDG's investment portfolio company, hosted a knowledge sharing and networking event for ‘Modern cold chain solutions for agriculture and logistics in Cambodia’. The event brought together industry colleagues, government agency representatives and co-funder, USAID, for a session that explored industry best practices and scope for elevating standards in the region.

Alex Traube-Childs and Fabian Foo with the Khmer Cold Chain Team

The PIDG Business Integrity team delivered capacity-building training sessions for team members of PIDG's investment portfolio projects, Darco Ba Lai and Khmer Cold Chain, in October.

The bilingual training in English and Vietnamese/Khmer focused on effectively addressing key business integrity risks such as bribery and corruption, financial crimes, conflict of interest and reporting mechanisms for raising concerns.

Fabian Foo training the Darco Ba Lai Team with the help of an interpreter

The training also included topics on effective company direction which speaks to the importance of business integrity culture and the role of the company board for effective risk management.  

Read participant reviews of the workshop on PIDG’s LinkedIn page or through the hashtag #PIDG_Business_Integrity.

PIDG has now expanded its provision of debt solutions in Asia through the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF). The fund provides long-term commercial debt to deliver inclusive and impactful infrastructure projects.

For its first debt investment in Asia, EAAIF partnered with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), ILX Fund and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in an US$86m loan for a first-of-its-kind sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facility in Pakistan.

Denesh Srishanker, Head of Credit Enhancement Facilities, authored an article in the Vietnam Investment Review on the case for a credit enhancement facility in Vietnam.

The article describes the current market challenges related to mobilising infrastructure financing, and how they can be addressed.

Nishant Kumar, Managing Director at GuarantCo, has recently been appointed as the PIDG Head of Coverage (Asia). In this role, which he will lead in addition to his role at GuarantCo, he will be responsible for managing the relationships with public and private stakeholders and helping the origination for the PIDG Companies in Asia.

Read about this and other news in PIDG Pulse, PIDG’s monthly newsletter covering highlights from across the group!

Click to watch an overview of PIDG's contributions towards progressing climate action #SinceCOP28

Climate action is at the forefront of the global development agenda, and PIDG continues to drive change through our investments in the emerging economies of Asia and Africa.

Since COP28, PIDG’s investments through InfraCo, GuarantCo and EAAIF supported climate action through:

• unlocking latent finance for climate-focused projects

• funding production of electric vehicles for cities

• increasing physical and network connectivity for people across large geographical landscapes

• funded sustainable agriculture and import/export infrastructure to improve food security

The progress achieved in 2024 is a direct reflection of the PIDG 2030 Strategy which seeks to drive climate action while accelerating sustainable development through new and improved access to infrastructure in communities that need it most.

In October, PIDG colleagues participated in the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW). Claudine Lim, Executive Director of InfraCo Asia, shared her insights about investing in Pakistan at a fishbowl knowledge exchange and project pitching event by the Private Finance Advisory Network (PFAN). 

In India, Suryanarayan Rajendrababu, Regional Manager (South Asia), participated in the USAID-organised South Asia Clean Energy Forum 2024 in Jaipur where he met with climate action-focused businesses looking for funding through the South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP) programme.

In Vietnam, Hoai Phuong-Vu, Regional Manager (South East Asia), joined a panel discussion at the Vietnam Impact Investment Forum on gender lens investing and initiatives to support micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Vietnam at the Vietnam Impact Investment Forum 2024.

Wrapping up the year, Nishant Kumar, Head of Coverage for Asia at PIDG and Managing Director (Asia) at GuarantCo, spoke at the ASEAN Smart City Financing Toolkit Workshop about PIDG's solutions for unlocking latent infrastructure finance in Asia.