Bregal Sphere Joins Imperative’s $114 Million Funding Close, Making Spekboom One of the World's Largest Ecosystem Restoration Projects

Bregal Sphere today announced its participation in the $114 million funding close for Imperative's Spekboom ecosystem restoration project in South Africa.

The close scales the project to 60,000 hectares of funded restoration, positioning Spekboom amongst the world's largest projects. The close combines streaming capital from a syndicate of institutional investors with a World Bank outcome bond, anchored by an offtake agreement with Amazon.

Spekboom is a large-scale ecosystem restoration project in South Africa's Eastern and Western Cape provinces, restoring degraded Albany thicket through the native pioneer species Portulacaria afra. Targeting 100,000 hectares at full scale, with over 1 million hectares of addressable degraded land, the project is expected to plant over 300 million native cuttings and remove over 35 million tonnes of CO₂e over its 40-year crediting period. 

The project holds a BeZero ex-ante Carbon Rating of 'AApre', among the highest awarded globally for Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation projects. It is also targeting CCB Gold certification under Verra's VCS VM0047 methodology. Phase 1 (10,000 hectares) is already in execution with a strong operational track record underpinning the Phase 2 expansion (50,000 hectares).  

Bregal Sphere’s Role in the Scale-Up 

Bregal Sphere joins the syndicate as a streaming capital partner, providing project execution capital alongside other leading institutional investors - together committing $89 million across Phase 1 and 2. This marks Bregal Sphere's first project investment under its partnership with Imperative, announced in March 2026, and its first investment in Africa. 

World Bank Outcome Bond 

This transaction combines a syndicated group of private sector capital partners with a World Bank outcome bond to finance ecosystem restoration. Issued by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and co-arranged by BNP Paribas, the $25 million principal-protected outcome bond links investor returns to the generation and monetisation of verified Carbon Removal Units (CRUs) from the project. The transaction demonstrates a replicable blended finance model for nature restoration at infrastructure scale. 

Amazon Anchor Offtake 

Bregal Sphere is an impact investing platform launched by Bregal Investments – a global investment firm managing over €19 billion AUM across multiple private markets strategies in North America and Europe. As a leading institutional natural capital investor, Bregal Sphere partners with leading nature-based project developers to deliver large-scale carbon removal projects that generate measurable positive impact for nature, climate, and local communities, alongside financial returns. For more information about Bregal Sphere, visit www.bregalsphere.com or follow us on LinkedIn. 

About Imperative 

Imperative, the Nature Infrastructure Company™, designs, develops, and operates large-scale ecosystem restoration projects across multiple jurisdictions. The company applies an infrastructure-grade approach to carbon removal — combining rigorous project engineering, vertically integrated operations, and institutional-quality standards to deliver high-integrity carbon credits with measurable biodiversity and community outcomes. Imperative’s projects are independently rated by BeZero Carbon and registered under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard. For more information about Imperative, visit www.imperativeinc.com or follow on LinkedIn. 

About the World Bank 

The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD), rated Aaa/AAA (Moody’s/S&P), is an international organisation created in 1944 and the original member of the World Bank Group. The World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and other creditworthy countries. The World Bank has been issuing sustainable development bonds in the international capital markets for over 70 years. 

Other Investors 

The investor syndicate also includes GenZero, Mirova, and Rubicon Carbon. 

Contacts  

Bregal Sphere:
Siqi Wu
Marketing & Communications Manager
siqi.wu@bregal.com 

Imperative:
John Nagulendran 
Chief Growth & Investment Officer 
john.nagulendran@imperativeinc.com

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