GuarantCo Management Company strengthens Management Team with the appointment of Surabhi Mathur Visser as Chief Investment Officer

  • Date written
  • January, 2023

GuarantCo Management Company (GMC), GuarantCo’s fund manager and a subsidiary of Cardano Development, has appointed Surabhi Mathur Visser as Chief Investment Officer (CIO), effective 3rd January 2023, to ensure that GuarantCo, a Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) company, is well prepared to deliver against future growth opportunities to the benefit of local people across Africa and Asia.

Surabhi Mathur Visser

Surabhi joined GuarantCo from Mirova SunFunder, based in Nairobi, where she led the investments team from June 2019, firstly as Head of Investments and latterly as CIO.  She joined Mirova SunFunder from MRI Group in Singapore where she managed the structured trade finance team globally. Prior to that, she was a member of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s power & infrastructure project finance team and before that she worked in Standard & Poor’s securitisation team. Surabhi holds an MBA from HEC Paris and a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Georgetown University.

In her new role, Surabhi will be part of the Senior Management Team and GMC Board. She will be working closely together with the various teams across GMC, PIDG and Cardano Development to set the overall direction and strategy to grow the company’s guarantee portfolio in its priority lower income countries whilst supporting GuarantCo’s local capital market development mandate. As PIDG launches its new strategy, she will be working closely with PIDG senior management.

Layth Al Falaki, CEO of GuarantCo, said:

“We are delighted that Surabhi has joined GuarantCo Management Company.  Since 2005, GuarantCo has become renowned as a centre of excellence for infrastructure finance local currency credit solutions and is delivering on its mission to help alleviate poverty in lower income countries across Africa and Asia.  Surabhi’s extensive and relevant experience will make a significant contribution to furthering this mission. She will be pivotal in helping us capitalise on further growth opportunities and delivering against our ambitious business plan”.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About GuarantCo

GuarantCo mobilises private sector local currency investment for infrastructure projects and supports the development of financial markets in lower income countries across Africa and Asia. GuarantCo is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and Sweden, through the PIDG Trust, the Netherlands, through FMO and the PIDG Trust, France through a stand-by facility and Global Affairs Canada through a repayable facility. GuarantCo is rated AA- by Fitch and A1 by Moody’s. GuarantCo’s activities are managed by GuarantCo Management Company which is part of Cardano Development www.guarantco.com

About PIDG

The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) is an innovative infrastructure project developer and investor which mobilises private investment in sustainable and inclusive infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and south and south-east Asia. PIDG investments promote socio-economic development within a just transition to net zero emissions, combat poverty and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). PIDG delivers its ambition in line with its values of opportunity, accountability, safety, integrity and impact. Since 2002, PIDG has supported 190 infrastructure projects to financial close which provided an estimated 220 million people with access to new or improved infrastructure. PIDG is funded by the governments of  the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Germany and the IFC www.pidg.org

About Cardano Development

GuarantCo is managed by a company with the Cardano Development (CD) group. CD is an incubator and fund manager, established in 2007. Through careful risk-management analysis in data poor settings, CD identifies scalable solutions that can help to make frontier financial markets more inclusive, investible, and sustainable to unlock lasting economic value. CD creates scalable solutions for currency, credit, and liquidity risks in these markets. With over USD 6 billion assets and USD 3.1 billion capital under management, CD supports eight scale-up ventures (TCX, GuarantCo, Frontclear, BIX Capital, ILX Fund, IMFact, AGRI3 Fund and Nyala Venture), and a number of new start-ups, with ongoing management support services and corporate governance oversight. For more information please visit www.cardanodevelopment.com.