African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), through its AIIF3 fund, has acquired a 44% stake in Albatros Energy Mali. Albatros Energy Mali will build, own, operate and transfer a 90-MW thermal power station in Kayes, western Mali.
The thermal power station will be the first independent power project (IPP) to feed into Mali’s national grid.
Mali’s current installed electricity generating capacity stands at just 352 MW and the thermal power project will add at least another quarter to the current base-load potential and create enough power for the equivalent of an estimated 780,000 households.
Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in July and is expected to take 16 months. Once operational, power will be sold to Mali’s national utility Énergie du Mali (EDM) through a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Albatros Energy Mali and its investors are committed to supporting the economic and social development of local communities living near the project site and will develop a number of initiatives, initially in healthcare, in order to enhance the region’s social and economic growth.
The project finance is structured through senior debt (70%) and a mix of ordinary shares and shareholder loans (30%), with AIIM the largest shareholder. Also invested alongside AIIM are Redox Power Solutions, Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor, which will construct and operate the project, and Denmark’s Investment Fund for Developing Countries.
Lenders to the project are the West African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund and GuarantCo.