Skip to main content

Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance

News and awards

Clifford Chance advises lenders on USD$552 million Amandi Energy Power Plant Financing

21 December 2016

Clifford Chance advises lenders on USD$552 million Amandi Energy Power Plant Financing

International law firm Clifford Chance has advised the lender group on the financing of the $552 million Amandi Energy Power Plant (Amandi Project), a 200 megawatt combined cycle, dual-fuel power project in Aboadze, Ghana. It is the only large scale base-load independent power generation project in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve financial close to date in 2016.

The Amandi Project will be crucial in helping to meet Ghana’s growing power needs. Once constructed, the plant will be one of the most efficient power plants in the country and will produce more than 1,600 gigawatt hours per year, equivalent to energising up to one million Ghanaian households.

The $552 million investment required for the Amandi Project included $418 million in debt financing, provided by a group of lenders, including the U.S. Government’s development finance institution OPIC, which will provide a $250 million loan, as well as CDC Group plc, which will provide an $83 million loan, Nedbank Limited and Rand Merchant Bank.

The Amandi Project signifies another achievement for the U.S. Power Africa programme, as OPIC’s funding is the initiative’s largest investment in West Africa to date.

The deal was led by an international team of Clifford Chance lawyers co-led by partners Jeremy Connick in London and Lori Bean in Washington D.C. They were supported by Tim Steadman, Daniel Edwards, Laurelle Ko, Kasia Sienko, Anne Drakeford, Adam Wood, Ashvin Seetulsingh and Keith Hauck in London, and Rob Richardson, Jessica Springsteen, Kate McCarthy and Hana Bae in Washington.

The project has also been awarded Project Finance International's African Power Deal of the Year 2016.