About

CDC is a development finance institution wholly owned by the UK government’s Department for International Development, investing in businesses in developing countries since 1948 with much of the balance sheet currently invested in Africa. The Group invests capital both directly and indirectly and also provides debt and mezzanine finance to companies and projects. In the last year it has made numerous investments such as its US$97m investment in Nubian Suns, the world’s largest solar park in Egypt. Another example is its proposed €100m investment in Nachtigal, a hydro-electric plant in Cameroon, which it expects to close this year. CDC group also enters into participation agreements with leading commercial banks and has created a subsidiary, MedAccess Guarantee, which increases access to
low-cost medical products and services through the provision of volume guarantees to pharmaceutical companies. Finally, it is a significant indirect investor in African companies through its commitments to private equity and infrastructure funds managed by third party fund managers. An example of an innovative indirect investment is its US$20m commitment to Solon, a Sierra Leonian fund, which has invested in the education and transport sectors. The in-house legal team is led by general counsel, Mark Kenderdine-Davies and supported by associate general counsel Elizabeth Tirone, with two managing counsel, Andy Wallace and Justin Pavry. Seven lawyers support the equity team, a further seven lawyers are in the debt and project finance team, and three in the intermediated equity team, while tax executives work across all product lines. The most significant structural changes in the team over the past two years has been a reduction in general counsel reporting lines and increased associate general and managing counsel responsibilities. The team works broadly across continents and are often working on transactions in countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Egypt and Cote d’Ivoire. Kenderdine-Davies says, ‘a willingness to get on a plane at short notice to move deals along or fix problems is a prerequisite for a CDC lawyer. We are developing our team culture. We know what makes a CDC lawyer, they are creative, diligent, lateral thinkers with healthy scepticism and good humour in equal measures. They believe in our mission and developmental mandate. They provide legal and commercial counsel, not just legal advice and are willing to be involved in deals and special situations from the very get go!’