December.18.2018
A cross-border Orrick pro bono team advised KawiSafi Ventures Ltd. and Acumen Fund Inc. on their Series A growth investment in Germany-based REDAVIA GmbH.
REDAVIA offers rental solar power for businesses and communities – with a regional focus on East and West Africa – based on a pre-configured container model, including high-performance solar modules and electrical components. The company has a proven track record of providing convenient, cost-effective and clean solar power to a variety of sectors, supporting the reduction of carbon emissions and increasing the impact of a sustainable society.
KawiSafi Ventures is an impact investment fund anchored by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), established within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and aiming to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. The fund mainly invests in enterprises with core business models that address the off-grid solar ecosystems in East Africa to provide universal access to energy to people located beyond the centralized power grid and at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
The KawiSafi Ventures fund is managed by Acumen Fund, an impact investment fund with almost 15 years’ experience in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that serve low-income communities in developing countries, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The results of its various activities overlap with the GCF, especially in the areas of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and fighting the negative effects of climate change and emissions from polluting fuels by enhancing energy efficient products (appliances). Leveraging its well-established track record investing in companies via equity and loan instruments, Acumen sought accreditation to the GCF as an opportunity to further assist more people in the low-income communities in which it operates.
The Orrick team was led by Oliver Duys (partner, M&A and Private Equity, Düsseldorf) and David Ronn (partner, Capital Markets, Houston) and included Nikita Tkatchenko (partner, M&A and Private Equity, Düsseldorf), Johannes Rüberg, Julia Schmitz, Vanessa Sousa Höhl (all associates, M&A and Private Equity, Düsseldorf), Louisa Kallhoff (associate, Employment Law, Düsseldorf), Robert Weinhold (associate, Data Privacy IT/IP, Düsseldorf) and Aubrey Refuerzo (associate, Technology Companies Group, Silicon Valley).
This is one of the biggest pro bono matters to date for our German team, which in 2017 was honored as a top performer for providing pro bono services in Germany by the pro bono clearing house Proboneo.