AfricanFinance

The Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) recently released its 2017 financial report. One of the takeaways from that report is that net profit took a turn for the worse falling from N149 billion to N27 billion representing a decrease of 82%. The media is already awash with that news and we will, therefore, not bother readers with it in this piece. However, there are a few things that have not been talked about, not even by Dr Uche Orji, the Managing Director and CEO of the Authority, in his press conference after the release but the eagle eyes of analysts at Quantitative Financial Analytics Ltd have been able to catch those observations. One of such is that the NSIA re-balanced their investment portfolio in terms of geographical allocation of assets. That rebalancing led to a reduction in exposure to the Middle East and the US. In 2016, out of the group’s total investment portfolio value of N399.7 billion, N121 billion or 30% was invested in various investment types ...

An innovative multi-million-dollar programme in Kenya seeks to connect 14,000 households and businesses to green mini-grids by the end of 2018. The programme dubbed the  Green Mini Grid (GMG) Facility Kenya  aims to achieve this through scaling up private utilities delivering renewable electricity to rural communities. It is based on results-based financing and could be a model for other sub-Saharan countries dealing with energy poverty. This initiative is the brainchild of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), recently provided funds to three private utilities namely; RVE.SOL, PowerGen Renewable Energy and Powerhive to build sites in dozens of villages located in four counties in the western part of the country. According to the companies, total grants allocated for the projects amount to about €5.2 million ($6 million). Localised power generation Mini-grids are localised power generation and distribution infrastructure, ideal for serving remo...

In response to low electrification rates in some remote areas across Africa, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a proposal to help Zola EDF Côte d’Ivoire (ZECI), to mobilise a loan in local currency to the tune of $28 million. The loan has been arranged by Société Générale de Banque in Côte d’Ivoire (SGBCI) and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (Crédit Agricole CIB). The AfDB will provide a partial credit guarantee covering part of the guaranteed loan facility as a catalyst. NEoT CI, the special purpose vehicle currently being created to mobilise the receivables-backed senior loan is sponsored by NEoT Offgrid Africa (NOA), an investment platform focused on distributed energy in Africa, managed by NEoT Capital, with Meridiam and EDF as investors. Additionally, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation will participate in the financing of ZECI and will monitor environmental and social norms for the duration of the transaction. Local currency financin...