The widely publicized Azura-Edo Gasfired Power Plant Project in Midwestern Nigeria has reached Financial Close, after regulatory and environmental hurdles, with approximately $900MM provided by a set of 20 international banks and equity funders.
The landmark date for final financial sanction was December 28, 2015. Fieldstone, the American group which acted as the project’s financial adviser, describes itas Nigeria’s first true project-financed independent power plant. “Much of the resulting financial structure can be used as a template for further investment in the power sector in Nigeria”, Fieldstone remarks. The project consists of the construction, operation and maintenance of a 450MW gas-fired open-cycle power plant located in Edo State, on the northwestern flank of the Niger Delta.
Lenders include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Standard Chartered Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Standard Bank, First City Monument Bank, Siemens Bank, FMO, KfW, DEG, Proparco, Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, ICF Debt Pool, Swed fund, CDC and OPIC. The debt facilities were split across a commercial tranche of $234MM (backed by a mixture of MIGA PRI and IBRD PRG products), a $267MM DFI tranche, a Naira 24bn ($120MM) local bank tranche with a natural hedge and a $65MM mezzanine facility from the DFIs.
The Azura-Edo Power Plant will be constructed by a Consortium of Siemens AG, Siemens Nigeria Limited and Julius Berger Nigeria. Gas will Azura Power is owned by Amaya Capital, the project’s founder and lead sponsor and American Capital Energy & Infrastructure (ACEI). Gas will be supplied by Seplat Petroleum, whose gas processing facility is in Oben, also in Edo State.
The other sponsors contributing equity were the Africa Infrastructure Investment Fund 2, Aldwych International and the Asset & Resource Management (ARM) Company. Fieldstone also acted as financial adviser to Amaya Capital on its equity fundraising process which brought in ACEI; this transaction included a commitment from ACEI to invest up to $130MM in Azura Power Holdings Ltd., the company responsible for developing the Azura-Edo IPP.
