Rockefeller fund backs Mainstream for USD-177.5m African investment

Mainstream Renewable Power today said it has closed the previously announced USD-117.5-million (EUR 107m) investment deal to support Lekela Power joint venture’s wind and solar activities in Africa.

Private grantmaking foundation The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is part of the investor consortium, which also includes International Finance Corp (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group; the IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund (ALAC) and the IFC Catalyst Fund, two funds managed by IFC Asset Management Company, Ascension Investment Management and Sanlam.

Mainstream itself is investing a further USD 60 million of equity, so the total amount for Lekela arrives at USD 177.5 million.

Lekela is a 60/40 pan-African joint venture between private equity firm Actis and Ireland-based Mainstream, which aims to build a 1.3-GW wind and solar portfolio in Africa by 2018. It currently has several projects in South Africa, Egypt, Senegal and Ghana.

“The teaming up of the world’s leading independent renewable power developer with a foundation started by members of the [Rockefeller] family that effectively founded the global oil industry, is a significant moment in the world’s transition to a new power system based on clean energy,” said Eddie O’Connor, CEO of Mainstream Renewable Power.

First Avenue Partners was the global placement agent for the equity funding transaction and Simmons & Simmons served as legal counsel to Mainstream and Norton Rose Fulbright for the investor group.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.909)

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