Egypt-based private equity firm Citadel Capital has completed a $70m capital increase for its African rail platform.

Five development finance institutions subscribed to the capital increase for Africa Railways. They included World Bank subsidiary the International Finance Corporation, which invested $30.1m in total, Dutch development bank FMO with $15m, Germany’s DEG invested $14m, and France’s Agence Francaise de Developpement contributed $10.7m

Africa Railways, which now has a total paid-in capital of $110m, will use the proceeds to fund portfolio company Rift Valley Railways (RVR) in Kenya and Uganda.

Most recently in August, Citadel Capital managed to raise $164m in senior debt financing from international financial institutions and an Egyptian bank for a five-year capital expenditure programme at RVR.  

“The proceeds from this capital increase will fuel Africa Railways’ ability as lead shareholder to fund RVR as the latter executes a five-year, multi-point rehabilitation programme that will see RVR make a quantum leap in operating standards,” says Karim Sadek, managing director at Citadel Capital.