Nigeria pension funds drive ₦20.69bn private debt fund raise

FCMB Asset Management Limited and TLG Capital have closed the Series II issuance of the FCMB-TLG Private Debt Fund at ₦20.69 billion, exceeding its ₦20 billion target by 3.43%. The raise is part of a broader ₦100 billion issuance programme for Nigeria’s first Naira-denominated private debt fund. A total of 22 investors participated in the round.

The capital structure of the raise points to a shift in how Nigeria’s institutional money is being deployed. Pension Fund Administrators contributed 78% of the total capital, with high-net-worth individuals, corporate investors, and FCMBAM making up the remainder. FCMBAM invested the required regulatory minimum of 3%. For a market where pension funds typically favour government securities, this represents a notable allocation into private credit.

The heavy institutional uptake is underpinned by the performance of the fund’s first tranche. Series I, which raised ₦10 billion and was oversubscribed by 4.30% in September 2024, was fully deployed within a year across nine companies in sectors including agriculture, healthcare, and technology. By March 31, 2026, that tranche had distributed ₦3.46 billion to unitholders, delivering a cumulative dividend yield of 33.22%.

The Series II capital will be issued as corporate debt to mid-sized businesses aligned with UN sustainable development goals. Portfolio companies use the financing to digitise distribution networks, manufacture medical consumables locally, and expand clean energy access. The fund managers expect the deployment to support import substitution and scale local manufacturing capacity.

“When we launched the country’s first Naira-denominated Private Debt Fund in Nigeria, we set out to prove that domestic institutional capital could be unlocked and channelled, responsibly and profitably, into some of Nigeria’s mid-sized businesses,” said James Ilori, CEO of FCMB Asset Management Limited. “That PFAs anchored this Series II, contributing more than three-quarters of the capital, tells us that conviction is now shared by one of the country’s most discerning groups of investors.”

Zain Latif, CEO of TLG Capital, highlighted the structural significance of the pension fund participation. “Indeed, the most important number in this raise is not the ₦20.69 billion, it is the 78% that came from Nigerian pension funds,” he said. “Domestic institutional capital, invested in Naira, into Nigerian mid-sized businesses, is the most sustainable pool of funding this continent has, and Series II proves the model is repeatable, not a one-off.”