ARMHIF Invests $552m in Amandi Power Plant

• ARMHIF Invests $552m in Amandi Power Plant

ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment Limited, manager of the ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund, said after a successful investment in Amandi IPP transaction, it had commenced the construction of the $552m Amandi Energy Power Plant, a 200 megawatt combined cycle, dual-fuel power project in Aboadze, Ghana.

A statement by the project company, Amandi Energy Limited, said the Amandi IPP was the only large-scale base-load independent power generation project in sub-Saharan Africa that achieved financial close in 2016.

It stated that the Amandi project would be crucial in helping to meet Ghana’s growing power needs.

Once constructed, it said, the plant would be one of the most efficient power plants in the country and would produce more than 1,600 gigawatt hours per year, energising up to one million Ghanaian households.

It stated, “The $552m investment required for the Amandi project comprises $134m in equity from the sponsor group, which includes Endeavor Energy, Amandi Founder Group, Aldwych International, Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund 2 managed by Harith General Partners, and ARMHIF.

“The $418m in debt financing is provided by a group of lenders, including the United States government’s development finance institution, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which has provided a $250m loan; the CDC Group Plc, which has provided a $83m loan; as well as Nedbank Limited and Rand Merchant Bank.”

Taken together with the $868m Azura-Edo IPP in Nigeria, for which financial close was achieved on December 28, 2015, it said the ARMHIF was investing in two significant power assets that would give further credence to the fund’s West Africa strategy.

It said the ARMHIF, through the two investments, had successfully helped close $1.42bn of infrastructure projects in West Africa.

“The ARMHIF has a robust pipeline of further deals under development, including a 100MW solar power IPP under development for northern Nigeria. Through the smart deployment of capital and management of infrastructure assets, the ARMHIF aims to make, in a profitable way for investors, a solid contribution to improving infrastructure in West Africa, and Nigeria,” it stated.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, ARMHIIL, Opuiyo Oforiokuma, said, “We appreciate the confidence and support of our investors, especially the pioneering Nigerian pension fund investors in the ARMHIF who were the first pension funds in Nigeria to commit to an infrastructure fund.

“We see from examples around the world, and now in Nigeria, that pension funds are a viable source of funding for infrastructure. As the main source of long-term institutional savings in Nigeria today, valued at approximately $25bn, our pension funds are ideally suited to the long-term investment horizons over which infrastructure projects are typically implemented.”