The year 2023 was marked by a strong acceleration and diversification of Echosys Advisory’s activities.
It was the year of the first closing of the AFRIGREEN DEBT IMPACT FUND (“AFRIGREEN“), which marks our ambition to make Echosys a leading investment bank specializing in green infrastructure, structured around two divisions, financial advisory and investment.
Echosys Invest, the investment subsidiary of Echosys Advisory created in 2021 and co-owned by RGREEN INVEST, has secured 87.5 million euros in commitments for AFRIGREEN enabling the fund’s first closing in April 2023 and the start of its deployment. AFRIGREEN, a fund based in France and managed by RGREEN INVEST, is dedicated to renewable energy projects in Africa, offering financing solutions to commercial and industrial customers, enabling them to install on-grid or off-grid solar power plants and thus reduce their energy bills and dependence on diesel.
To support AFRIGREEN’s investments, Echosys Invest opened its regional office for West and Central Africa in Abidjan in May 2023. This office is headed by Moulaye Mohameidou, who has joined the team as Investment Manager. Prior to joining Echosys Invest, Moulaye was Coordinator of the Rural Electrification and Energy Efficiency Project at Expertise France in Côte d’Ivoire. He also worked for EDF as Project Manager and for Boralex as M&A Analyst.
Moulaye is supported in Abidjan by Nicolas Chavane, an Investment Analyst, who works on analyzing new opportunities for the fund. Before joining Echosys Invest, Nicolas worked for Activa Capital, a private equity fund, where he held the position of Investment Analyst, and for Eight Advisory as an Analyst in Transaction Services & Restructuring. Nicolas is a graduate of EDHEC Business School (Programme Grande Ecole) and holds a law degree with a Tax and Corporate Law major.
Finally, the Investment team has also been strengthened in Paris with the arrival of Ayman Laarossi, who takes up the position of Investment Analyst. Ayman began his career at KPMG, with initial experience in advising public and private shareholders on acquisitions and debt-raising strategies. Ayman holds a Master’s degree in Financial Strategy from Audencia Business School and an MSc in International Management from Shenzhen University.
In the Financial Advisory division, 2023 was marked by the acceleration of M&A activity in the renewable energies and industrial decarbonization sector, where we were able to assert our expertise in financing industrial energy efficiency in Europe, in structuring ESCOs and in corporate fund-raising.
We also launched our “sustainable agriculture” practice, notably through an equity fundraising mandate for a company operating in the natural pollination sector. We are convinced that certain sustainable agriculture projects can benefit from the same structuring we apply to energy projects. What’s more, this new practice aims to make an effective contribution to sustainable land use, ecosystem restoration and CO2 reduction.
The Financial Advisory team has also expanded with the arrival of Meryem Masmoudi as Vice-President. Meryem brings to Echosys Advisory her expertise in sell-side and buy-side M&A transactions acquired within the M&A firm Emergence Partners. She also has experience in Equity Capital Markets (ECM) at CACIB, and as a Strategy Consultant at E&Y. Meryem holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance from Université Paris Dauphine and a Bachelor of Science in Management from IHEC Carthage, Tunis.
We are delighted to have been able to support more and more customers and partners this year in financing their energy transition and decarbonization projects, both in Europe and Africa.
Thank you for your trust!
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