- AFC Wins Africa Power Deal of the Year Award
Investment-grade multilateral finance institution, Africa Finance Corporation, has been named the winner of the Africa Power Deal of the Year award in the Infrastructure Journal Global Awards 2017 for its 80 megawatts peat to power project in Rwanda.
The project is expected to improve access to electricity for three quarters of the country’s population that is currently off the grid, according to a statement by the corporation.
AFC was the mandated lead arranger for the project debt, and successfully arranged total senior debt facilities of $245m, contributing $75m of its funding to the facilities.
Despite its status as one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, only 25 per cent of Rwanda’s population currently has access to reliable electricity. The $350m power plant will increase Rwanda’s installed capacity by 40 per cent. Scheduled for completion within three years, the project is located in the Gisagara District, one of the most remote areas of Rwanda.
The project is sponsored by HakanMadencilik A.S, a Turkish energy company, and Quantum Power, a power and energy infrastructure investment platform. Apart from the AFC, other members of the lending consortium included Finnfund (which served as the lead arranger for total mezzanine debt facilities of $35m for the project), Trade and Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank, and the Development Bank of Rwanda.
Commenting on the award, the Chief Executive Officer, AFC, Andrew Alli, said, “We are delighted to receive this award and to be recognised as a global force helping to address Africa’ss severe energy problems. This project will be hugely beneficial to Rwandan communities, not just in terms of the financial savings made from reducing the imported energy supplies, but because of the wider socio-economic benefits.
“At the AFC, we are 100 pe cent committed to investing in projects that will address Africas infrastructure development needs that will provide substantial, measurable benefit in the long term. I would like to thank the organisers of this event for their work on this event, and for recognising the AFC as a global leader in this space.”
