Fact panel
| Investee: Premier Energies Ltd. | Investor: SDG Frontier Fund |
|---|---|
| Sector: Clean energy supply chain (PV solar) | Type of vehicle: Fund of Funds |
| Type of organisation: Private Company | Type of investors: Public & private. Mix of Belgian para-public (BIO, UGent), King Baudouin Foundation (KBF), institutional (AG Insurance, Belfius Insurance, Ethias, VDK Bank), family offices and HNWIs investors. |
| Yearly Turn-over: USD 783 million | Type of investments: Private Equity & Venture Capital |
| Type of investee: C | Size of the Fund: €36 million |
| Country of investee: India | Range of Investment tickets: >€1 million (€1.5 to 5 million) |
| Investment strategy: impact investment | Geographical focus: Africa and Asia |
| Ticket size of the investment: >€20 million (USD 23.8 M invested by SAGF II South Asian Growth Fund (SAGF II) (a Private Equity fund managed by GEF Capital Partners in which SDG FF invested)) | Sectors : SME generalist focus with some emphasis on Financial inclusion, Agri, Climate finance. |
| Year of investment: 2021 | Expected return (of the fund): Similar to market return (8% net IRR). |
| Specifics: Co-investment vehicle investing alongside BIO S.A., the Belgian Development Finance Institution. In addition to co-investing, BIO S.A. is also anchor investor in SDG FF. |
The what: Premier Energies, a pioneer C company
Problem addressed
India relies heavily on coal, with about 45% of its installed capacity coming from coal-fired power plants, making it the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter. The IEA forecasts a continued electricity demand growth of 6.3% annually between 2025-27, driven primarily by rising cooling needs and industrial expansion. This rapid surge and overall demand stresses the grid and underscores why diversifying India’s energy mix toward renewables is urgent, highlighting the critical role of national champions like Premier Energies in delivering clean and scalable power solutions.
Solution provided by Premier Energies
Established in 1995, Premier Energies is a fully integrated solar cell and module manufacturing company at the forefront of photovoltaic innovation. With modern, automated factories across Telangana and more expansion underway, the company can already produce enough solar cells and modules to power millions of homes each year. Their innovative products are known for being high-efficiency and reliable, 12 of their solar modules were ranked among the best in the world in a 2023 industry report.
Premier Energies has demonstrated an impressive growth momentum in recent years, rapidly scaling its operations within the renewable energy sector. This trajectory culminated in a highly successful IPO on India’s Stock Exchange in Q3 2023, underscoring the market’s strong confidence in Premier Energies’ strategic direction, financial health, and its pivotal role in advancing India’s clean energy transition.
The how: SDG Frontier Fund of BIO
General presentation
The Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), established in 2001 and fully owned by the Belgian State, is a development finance institution that supports private sector in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Operating under a mandate from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BIO provides long-term financing to businesses, financial institutions, and infrastructure projects, and offers grants for feasibility studies and technical assistance.
In 2020, BIO launched the SDG Frontier Fund as the first Belgian self-managed fund-of-funds investing in the Global South. The fund acts as a catalyst vehicle for mobilizing private capital into frontier markets (Africa and Asia), meeting the growing demand for investments that generate both financial return and developmental impact. This pioneering initiative brings together a mix of private investors ranging from institutional players to family offices. The SDG Frontier Fund works as a co-investment vehicle alongside BIO, benefiting from BIO’s strong origination capacity as well as other operational synergies. The SDG Frontier Fund is now fully committed with investments made in 12 funds active in Africa and Asia.
Intentionality
The SDG Frontier Fund strives, since its inception, to support sustainable economic growth in African and Asian frontier markets and contribute directly to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As of today, the Fund has invested in over 130 Companies through 12 investment funds, supporting more than 50,000 direct jobs and generating economic enabling effects.
Impact management
In terms of impact management, the SDG Frontier Fund can rely on BIO’s expertise and long- term track record in backing entrepreneurs in challenging environments who are on a journey toward high ESG standards. BIO intervenes at the level of the portfolio funds in which the SDG Frontier Funds has invested through requirements of high Environment & Social (E&S) standards and management systems, active participation in governance bodies and technical assistance when needed. As the SDG Frontier Fund is a co-investment vehicle, all standards and practices applied by BIO (an overall TOC, the alignment with SDGs, …) for its own investments are also applied to the SDG Frontier Fund’s portfolio funds, allowing the vehicle to leverage sector-specific expertise and capacity to perform in-depth assessments of E&S risks and Development Effectiveness.
Drawing on its Theory of Change and impact management tools, BIO not only provides financing to enterprises but also ensures they grow sustainably, helping them move beyond basic compliance toward international best practices, all while delivering both social impact and financial returns. BIO’s approach with regards to impact can be summarized in three pillars: (1) Do no Harm, (2) Do Good and (3) Do More. The Do no Harm pillar consists in making sure that for each project, BIO assesses, mitigates and manages adequately Human Rights and Environmental and Social risks. The Do Good pillar is about impact assessment, monitoring and evaluation based on a set of tools to manage and evaluate development effectiveness. This includes a systematic ex-ante assessment and expected outcomes, target setting and related monitoring of development KPIs, economic modelling of induced effects (cf. Joint Impact Model) and evaluating processes and outcomes at various stages of the investment process. The Do More pillar is about Technical Assistance that BIO can offer through its Business Development Support Fund (BDSF).
Additionality
BIO strives to be financially additional by providing financing services that go beyond what is made available by the private sector, not replacing the market but supplementing it. Mobilizing private capital is essential to achieve the SDGs. This is why BIO also seeks to mobilize financing from private investors, in line with SDG 17 (Partnership for the goals). BIO is usually perceived as solid anchor investors, helping to mitigate real and perceived risks associated with projects with high development potential. The SDG FF is the best demonstration of BIO’s catalytic role, as most investors that invested in the Fund accepted to bear the emerging market risk precisely because of BIO’s expertise and ‘skin in the game’.
BIO’s non-financial additionality is the additional development objective or achievements that the presence of BIO helps to realize, which the private investment otherwise may not bring to the transaction. It refers to requirements or services beyond financial ones, including the provision of specialized advice or the mobilization of technical expertise, requirements to improve ESG standards, or the use of grant funding to support the development of training programs or systems in key areas. BDSF basically offers subsidies to improve business practices, expertise and standards compliance, finance feasibility studies or support for innovative projects.
More information
- Bio
- BIO SDG Frontier Fund
- Impact strategy Bio
