Greek sovereign fund joins Malta-based investment network

Growthfund, the national fund of Greece, will join a network of regional sovereign funds based in Malta early next year after signing a memorandum of understanding with the organisation at its latest meeting in Madrid.

The meeting was hosted by the Compañía Española de Financiación del Desarrollo (COFIDES), itself due to join the European, Middle East and North Africa (EMENA) Sovereign Wealth Funds Foundation in 2023 after signing an MoU earlier this year.

The EMENA Foundation currently counts the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), Bpifrance, and Malta Government Investments (MGI) as full members.

Set up in March 2022, The EMENA Foundation aims to serve as a regional platform for members to meet and exchange experiences and available information on investment opportunities to achieve national and sustainable economic development goals in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

The collaboration network further aims to crowd in sovereign fund-backed capital that will help unlock significant private investment flows to de-risk and fund projects or companies in the EMENA area that has an investment funding gap of $700-900 billion, with a special focus on green technology, sustainable development, SMEs, and innovation.

“Malta Government Investments is very proud to have led in the past two years the setting up of the EMENA Sovereign Wealth Funds Foundation together with Bpifrance and The Sovereign Fund of Egypt, and to welcome today Growthfund, in addition to COFIDES last March in Malta, as new members,” said Herald Bonnici, CEO of MGI.

He added that the foundation will discuss and share coinvestment opportunities n the region.

“We are excited that the EMENA family is growing to further enhance the investment possibilities between us and with other countries in the EMENA region and Africa, especially around the Mediterranean. The area has so much potential with growth opportunities in infrastructure, real sector activities, and digitalisation.” said Ayman Soliman, CEO of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt.

Pascal Lagarde, executive director of Bpifrance and chairman of the board of the EMENA Foundation, said: “I am pleased to see that our coalition is growing. It demonstrates that this initiative answers to a real need. The EMENA Foundation is an ambitious project, but our discussions have shown that we have many opportunities. We now have to develop our operational tools to move forward and achieve concrete results.”

COFIDES chairman José Luis Curbelo said hosting the meeting was “an honour” for the Spanish fund. He described the strategic partnership between the regional national entities as an opportunity to “strengthen the Mediterranean through high impact investments, with a special focus in green technology, food security, sustainable development, SMEs, and innovation.”

Joining the group for the first time, Growthfund CEO Gregory D. Dimitriadis said: “We are very proud that Growthfund, the National Fund of Greece, joins forces with the EMENA network. We believe that there is a huge potential among sovereign wealth funds that share the same geography to benefit from a large toolbox of multilateral institutions, co-explore investment projects in the EMENA region, and share experiences and best practices for sustainable development.”