Trinity advises sponsors on landmark Amandi IPP in Ghana

Trinity has advised Amandi Energy Limited (“Amandi Energy”) on the $552 million Amandi Energy Power Plant (the “Amandi Project”), a 197.4 MW combined cycle, dual-fuel power project situated in Aboadze, Ghana. The Amandi Project is the only large scale base-load independent power generation project in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve financial close to date in 2016.

The $418 million in debt financing is provided by a group of lenders, including the U.S. Government’s development finance institution Overseas Private Investment Corporation (“OPIC”), which will provide a $250 million loan, as well as CDC Group plc, which will provide an $83 million loan, Nedbank Limited and Rand Merchant Bank who will together provide around $84 million in debt.

The Amandi Project is due to complete construction within 28 months and is scheduled to come online in April 2019. The plant’s construction will create 400 jobs, most of which will be filled by Ghanaians, and the plant’s operations will employ up to 40 people full time.

The Amandi Project will be crucial in helping to meet Ghana’s growing power needs. Once constructed, the plant will be one of the most efficient power plants in the country and will produce more than 1,600 gigawatt hours per year, energising up to one million Ghanaian households. Amandi Energy will sell power to the Electricity Company of Ghana (“ECG”) under a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement. It will be initially fuelled by light crude oil, but is expected to switch to indigenous gas from Ghana’s offshore Sankofa natural gas field once available.

Trinity also acted for the original founder group on the equity investment into the Amandi Project.  The equity group includes Endeavour, Amandi Founder Group (“AFG”), Aldwych, Pan African Infrastructure Development 2 managed by Harith General Partner (“PAIDF2”) and ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund (“ARMHIF”).

Trinity team included Paul Biggs, Patrick Leece, Kaushik Ray, Hugh Naylor, Conrad Marais, Luke Muchamore, Jo Sykes, Robert Currall, Tinashe Makoni and Linda Saitta.