Infinity + AFC plan USD 4 bn investment to double Lekela’s capacity: Our friends at renewables player Infinity Group and Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) want to raise USD 2.5-4 bn over the next four years to double the capacity of the newly-acquired Lekela Power, AFC CEO Samaila Zubairu told Bloomberg in an interview. The buyers are looking to ensure Lekela keeps its position as the “largest renewable pure play in Africa.”

This comes a week after Infinity and AFC agreed to acquire 100% of Lekela from private equity firm Actis and Irish wind / solar developer Mainstream Renewable Power. The transaction reportedly valued Lekela at USD 1.5 bn and will hand Infinity and AFC a 2.8 GW portfolio of wind projects across Africa, making Infinity the largest renewables company on the continent. The acquisition is expected to close in 4Q.

Enter the DFIs: Development finance institutions that AFC has worked with will likely provide the bulk of the finance, Zubairu told the business newswire. These include French lender Proparco, Germany’s KfW and the US International Development Finance Corporation, he said.

Infinity + AFC want to bring most of Lekela’s pipeline online by 2026: The funding will make it possible for Lekela to bring online 50-75% of its 3 GW pipeline over the next four years.

This would at least double current capacity: Lekela currently has 1 GW of operating assets while Infinity and AFC own facilities generating 400 MW. Lekela has >1 GW of installed capacity at projects located in Egypt, South Africa and Senegal. It has another 1.8 GW of projects in the pipeline that are expected to close in the near future. The company started generating at its 250-MW wind farm in West Bakr last November.