Updated
Updated · Semafor · Aug 17
Genser Energy Secures €456 Million for West African Gas Power Expansion
Updated
Updated · Semafor · Aug 17

Genser Energy Secures €456 Million for West African Gas Power Expansion

3 articles · Updated · Semafor · Aug 17

Summary

  • €456 million in new credit gives Genser Energy fresh funding to finish gas-power upgrades in Ghana and start a 470-megawatt project in Côte d’Ivoire.
  • Three South African banks — First Rand, Absa and Standard Bank — arranged the package, which Genser says will also support a gas processing plant in Prestea due to launch later this year.
  • Genser plans to follow the debt raise with a $350 million equity sale after buying out Oppenheimer Partners’ 40% stake, aiming to cut roughly $1 billion of current debt.
  • 334 megawatts of installed capacity and a 270-mile gas pipeline have made Genser a regional supplier, but CEO Baafour Asiamah Adjei said the company is still unprofitable because financing costs absorb most earnings.
  • 600 million Africans still lack electricity, and Genser is betting gas can help close that gap even as plant costs have tripled in six years and debate persists over gas’s long-term economics.

Insights

With $1 billion in debt and zero profits, can Genser Energy's massive West African gas gamble survive until its NYSE listing?
Why did Oppenheimer Partners exit their 40% stake just as Genser Energy secured massive funding for its Côte d'Ivoire expansion?