Barclays wins awards for funding energy transactions
Barclays Africa has been awarded Overall African Deal of the Year for 2013 as well as Africa Power Deal of the Year for 2013 by Project Finance magazine for arranging funding for two greenfield open-cycle gas-turbine (OCGT) power plants in South Africa.
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Barclays Africa acted as a lead arranger, senior lender, account bank, hedge co-ordinator and hedge provider on the deals, worth R14.7bn.
Barclays Africa was also awarded the African Renewable Deal of the Year in the 2013 Project Finance International awards for the bank's successful raising of US$550m to fund the Bokpoort concentrated solar power renewable energy project. This deal, in which Barclays Africa acted as joint mandated lead arranger, providing part of the 18-year debt funding, was also recognised in late 2013 as the "Solar Deal of the Year" by World Finance magazine.
The two OCGT projects are known as the Peakers Power Project as they provide energy to the grid at peak demand periods. They are Africa's first greenfields thermal power projects delivered by an independent producer. The Peakers Power Project involves the design, construction, operation and maintenance of two OCGT plants, one of 335MW at Dedisa in the Eastern Cape, and another of 670MW at Avon in KwaZulu-Natal. Each facility boasts on-site fuel and water storage for a continuous 45 hours of full-load operations.
Development is crucial
Philip Lindop, head of Investment Banking at Barclays Africa, said that these accolades once again recognise Barclays Africa's leading position in the power and energy sector in Africa. "We are delighted to have been recognised again for our commitment to supporting the growth and development of the energy sector in Africa, and helping our clients achieve their ambitions in the right way. The development of the power and energy sector in Africa is crucial to the sustainable success of the continent.
"Our record of involvement in a number of African power and energy deals to date demonstrates the relevance of our fully local, fully global model - allowing us to leverage our global knowledge, contacts and relationships in the successful delivery of client ambitions," said Lindop.
In November 2013, Barclays Africa secured mandates to provide R10.8bn worth of debt funding to a total of six projects, including wind, solar PV and concentrated solar power under the government's third independent power producer (IPP) procurement round. This was approximately a third of the total debt committed by South Africa's commercial banks, positioning Barclays Africa as one of the largest funders of the third round of South Africa's renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme.
