When a private US railroad company arrived in war-battered Mozambique at the end of the 1990s to take over the operation of that country's crucial northern corridor between Malawi and the port of Nacala, it took nearly a decade to raise the finance needed. Africa was - and still is - a tough proposition for any railway business, and potential private investors have often been scared off by the various challenges of ruined tracks, wrecked locomotives and vicious competition from trucks. Not so the Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund 2, which has closed a deal to acquire 30% of South African privately-owned locomotive and railway operator Sheltam for an undisclosed sum. The fund, managed by Harith General Partners, invests in infrastructure projects in Africa, and opens a welcome funding pipeline to Sheltam, which hires out its locomotives, crews and operational expertise to mines, industry and a growing portfolio of state railways north of the Limpopo River. "It's a billion-d...

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