The UK’s State-owned development finance institution CDC and Norwegian investment fund Norfund’s joint buyout of power generation platform Globeleq Africa from emerging market investor Actis has been concluded, the parties announced on Monday.
Norfund, which injected $227-million for a 30% stake in Globeleq Africa, and CDC, which already owned around 70% through the Actis Infrastructure 2 Fund, would transfer their interests into a newly formed joint unnamed venture.
Together, the duo planned to bring on line an additional 5 000 MW generating capacity in Africa over the next ten years, adding to the more than $350-million investments made by Actis to more than double Globeleq Africa’s installed capacity to 1 234 MW over the past seven years across eight power plants in Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.
In June, Globeleq completed – on time and within budget – the expansion of the combined-cycle gas turbine of its majority-owned Azito gas-to-power plant near Abidjan, in Côte d’Ivoire, to 430 MW of installed capacity and 139 MW of generating capacity using locally supplied natural gas.
Globeleq Africa had also backed the construction of three renewable-energy generation assets with a combined capacity of 238 MW under the first round of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
The firm was a majority shareholder of the 50 MW De Aar solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant, in the Northern Cape, and held majority stakes in the consortium groups that owned and managed the 138 MW Jeffreys Bay wind farm, in the Eastern Cape, and the 50 MW Droogfontein solar PV power plant, in the Northern Cape.
In Tanzania, Globeleq held a majority interest in the Songas business, which provided gas processing and transportation, as well as power generation services, and owned a 30% interest in the Tsavo (Kipevu II) 75 MW power plant in Mombasa, Kenya.
Last year, the company acquired a majority share in the 88 MW Dibamba power generation plant in Yassa Village, Cameroon.
CDC and Norfund said the Africa-focused power firm’s growth milestone would be the expansion to 330 MW of the majority-owned 216 MW Kribi gas-fired generation plant, in Cameroon, which was currently in advanced development and expected to reach financial close later this year.