Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)

The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is an African-led international financial institution, established in 2007 whose mission is to improve African economies by proactively developing and financing infrastructure, industrial and financial assets.  AFC is involved as an investor, developer and financier of various infrastructure projects, and is gaining recognition as the benchmark institution for financing the development of power projects in Africa.   

AFC is the Technical Adviser to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the CBN’s US$ 2 billion Power and Aviation Intervention Fund (PAIF), AFC is also the lead investor, in conjunction with InfraCo, in Cenpower Generation Company Limited (Cenpower), which is implementing the US$450 million Kpone IPP project – a 340 megawatt combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Tema, Ghana. AFC recently provided financing to a leading Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Nigeria.  

AFC is the majority investor in Cabeolica SA, which was established to develop, build, own and operate the US$90 million, 28MW landmark renewable energy wind power project in Cape Verde.  This public-private partnership(PPP) with the Government of Cape Verde and the national power utility, Electra, entails the construction of 30 wind turbines on four of the seven inhabited islands of the mid-Atlantic archipelago.  The Cabeolica wind farm project is the first commercial scale PPP wind farm in Sub-Saharan Africa.

AFC is the lead investor in the Main One fibre optic cable project, enhancing West Africa’s connection to Europe and the rest of the world through faster and more technologically advanced broadband capacity. AFC has invested in the international oil and gas exploration and production company, Seven Energy Limited, which is playing a pioneering role in developing alternative sources of natural gas for domestic use in the Nigerian power and manufacturing sectors. Underscoring its expertise in investing in PPPs/PFIs in its focal sectors across the African continent, AFC is an investor in the Bakwena toll road project in South Africa.

Extract:
Africa Infrastructure Review offers the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) perspective on topical issues relating to infrastructure development, financing and investment in Africa. We offer pragmatic and innovative solutions, based on our expertise, local knowledge and unique insight into the African infrastructure space.

In this edition, we focus on the electricity sector in our host country, Nigeria. It is a sector that is undergoing unprecedented reforms at a particularly momentous time for the country. We make a case that perhaps a disproportionate amount of effort has been put into eliminating barriers to private investment in the upstream segments of the power industry and less on the crucial downstream distribution sub-sector. Drawing from experience elsewhere in Africa, we outline a clear path to success for investors in Nigerian distribution assets, using the Lesotho Electricity Corporation as an operational case study.

It is our firm belief that in 2011, Nigeria can finally complete the long-delayed privatisation and liberalisation of its electricity supply industry, and in so doing unlock the immense opportunities for productivity, value-added, employment and economic growth, particularly in its non-oil sector. At AFC, we stand ready to play a leading role in catalysing private sector investments into infrastructure development in Nigeria. We are actively engaged with various partners seeking to participate in the on-going power privatisation process. In addition to our specialised financial advisory and capital raising service offerings, AFC offers technical and project development advisory products. We are also able to co-invest with local and international partners in acquiring or developing assets across the African continent.

We hope you find the contents of the Africa Infrastructure Review useful, and look forward to hearing from you regarding ways we may be able to assist you in Nigeria and the wider African infrastructure investment space.

To read the full article, please click on this link: http://www.africafc.org/