GuarantCo and Africa GreenCo scoop ‘Energy Transition Deal of the Year – Africa’ in the IJGlobal Awards

  • Date written
  • March, 2025

GuarantCo’s transaction with Africa GreenCo has won ‘Energy Transition Deal of the Year – Africa’ in the IJ Global Awards. The prestigious award was announced at the EMEA ceremony held at The Peninsula London last night.

GuarantCo and Africa GreenCo scoop ‘Energy Transition Deal of the Year – Africa’ in the IJGlobal Awards

Judged by panels of industry experts, the IJGlobal Awards celebrate outstanding achievements in infrastructure finance, recognising organisations and deals that demonstrate innovation and have a significant impact on their respective markets.

In the deal completed in April 2024, GuarantCo, part of The Private Infrastructure Development Group, provided Africa GreenCo with an USD 27 million guarantee facility to boost renewable energy in Southern Africa. This novel and market-leading guarantee structure leverages GuarantCo’s high credit ratings (Moody’s A1 and Fitch AA-) to provide the Independent Power Projects (IPPs) GreenCo buys power from, and their lenders, with the financial comfort to enter into contracts and build renewable power projects.

Our Portfolio – Africa GreenCo – GuarantCo

This award underscores the critical role of risk mitigation this transaction provides in driving renewable energy investments. The independent assurance of timely payment is designed to catalyse increased private sector investment in renewable energy projects across the region.

GuarantCo congratulates the Africa GreenCo team for also picking up the Market Impact Award last night for its approach to addressing Zambia’s energy crisis.

GuarantCo and the Africa GreenCo team were joined at the ceremony by Her Excellency, Ms Macenje ‘Che Che’ Mazoka, High Commissioner of Zambia to the UK; Mr Fitzpatrick Kapepe, Director of Strategy and Business Development at ZESCO; Jed Goldstein, Zambia Infrastructure Lead for First Quantum Minerals; and Chris Burton, Group Treasury Specialist at First Quantum Minerals.

Surabhi Mathur Visser, Deputy CEO and Chief Investment Officer at GuarantCo, said:

“This award win further validates the innovative and transformational nature of the transaction we completed with Africa GreenCo in 2024. Our sister PIDG company InfraCo has supported the development and growth of Africa GreenCo’s pioneering offering since 2020. The project fully aligns with the PIDG 2023-2030 Strategy focus on climate action. We are very happy to provide a replicable and scalable credit solution that supports the company’s growth and accelerates the adoption of renewable energy in Southern Africa.”

GreenCo’s Chief Commercial Officer, Ms. Cathy Oxby added that:

“We are honoured and humbled that our continuing efforts to apply innovation and creativity to address the multifaceted challenges in the African energy sector have been recognised on this global stage. By listening and responding to the needs and priorities of our counterparties, including utilities, customers and project developers, we are able to harness our respective strengths and design win-win outcomes.  We are delighted to celebrate these collective achievements with our key partners and look forward to future successful collaboration.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

About GuarantCo

GuarantCo mobilises private sector local currency investment for infrastructure projects and supports the development of financial markets in lower income countries across Africa and Asia. GuarantCo is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and Sweden, through the PIDG Trust, the Netherlands, through FMO and the PIDG Trust, France through a stand-by facility and Global Affairs Canada through a repayable facility. GuarantCo is rated AA- by Fitch and A1 by Moody’s. Since 2005, GuarantCo has enabled USD 6.8 billion of total investment and USD 5.7 billion of private sector investment, giving 44.7 million people access to infrastructure and creating around 243,000 jobs. GuarantCo’s activities are managed by GuarantCo Management Company, which is part of Cardano Development www.guarantco.com.

About PIDG

The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) is an innovative infrastructure project developer and investor which mobilises private investment in sustainable and inclusive infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and south and south-east Asia. PIDG investments promote socio-economic development within a just transition to net zero emissions, combat poverty and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). PIDG delivers its ambition in line with its values of pioneering, partnership, safety, inclusivity and urgency.

PIDG offers Technical Assistance for upstream, early-stage activities and concessional capital; its project development arm – InfraCo – invests in early-stage project development and project and corporate equity. PIDG credit solutions include EAAIF (the Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund), one of the first and more successful blended debt fund in low-income markets; GuarantCo, its guarantee arm that provides credit enhancement and local currency solutions to de-risk projects; and a growing portfolio of local credit enhancement facilities, which unlocks domestic institutional capital for infrastructure financing.

Since 2002, PIDG has supported 233 infrastructure projects to financial close, which provided an estimated 228 million people with access to new or improved infrastructure. PIDG is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Global Affairs Canada and Germany. pidg.org