Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises on the financing of Lots in the Kenya Annuity Road Programme

International law firm Clifford Chance alongside Kenyan counsel Bowmans Coulson Harney advised the commercial bank lenders on the financing of road Lots 15 and 18 of the Kenya Annuity Road Programme.

The Annuity Programme is an initiative of the Kenyan Government which is directed at the delivery of critical upgrades to 10,000km of roads, which will support local commerce, tourism and agriculture.

Individual procurements under the Annuity Programme are allotted and financed as separate Lots. Lots 15 and 18 are the first Lots to be financed on a truly limited-recourse basis and duplicating that approach going forward is critical to ensuring that the balance sheet capacity of participants does not limit development, and for the ambitions of the Annuity Programme more broadly to be realised.

This transaction builds on Clifford Chance's market-leading expertise in transport infrastructure. Clifford Chance was recently ranked No. 1 for global infrastructure finance by volume by the IJ Global league tables for 2021. The firm was also named Global Law Firm of the Year for three years running by Infrastructure Investor.

Bowmans is recognized as a pace setter in infrastructure project development and finance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its highly regarded team is notably involved in significant pioneering infrastructure and renewable energy projects, with further proficiency in the upstream and midstream oil and gas sector. Most recently, Bowmans won the 2022 Chambers Africa Award for Law Firm of the Year in Kenya. The firm’s practice also won Energy and Natural Resources team of the Year at the 2021 Africa Legal Awards.

Praveen Jagadish, senior associate, comments that "closing this transaction is the culmination of more than five years of efforts by the sponsor group, led by Mota-Engil, the lenders, led by Standard Bank and Stanbic Kenya, and the Kenyan Government, through the PPP Directorate and the Kenya Urban Roads Authority. We were delighted to play our part, alongside our local partners Bowmans. With several other road projects approaching financial close in Kenya and the Kampala Jinja Expressway project returning to the private market in neighbouring Uganda, we expect a busy period ahead for infrastructure in East Africa."

The cross-practice Clifford Chance team was led by senior associates Praveen Jagadish and Prakruthi Gowda, supported by partners Jeremy Connick and Michael Pearson. Specialist construction input was provided by David Metzger (partner) and Simon Smith (senior associate), whilst the team also included Dolly Aheto-Tsegah and Dominic Behar (both associates).

The Bowmans team was led by Aleem Tharani (Head of Projects, Energy & Infrastructure (Kenya)), with support from senior associates Edwin Baru and Candice Kola, and associate Sidharth Shah. Specialist construction input was provided by Stephanie McDonald (Senior Consultant, Project Finance) and Lea-ne Kapnoudhis (associate).