Amaya Capital invests $300m in Azura power generation

A leading African-focused principal investment firm, Amaya Capital, has announced over $300million equity commitments in its power generation platform. The new investment follows the acquisition by growth markets investor, Actis of American Capital Energy & Infrastructure’s stake in Azura Power Holdings Limited.

This transaction, and the consequent expansion of Azura’s capital base, now allows the business to scale up its pan-African power generation capacity to a target of over 3,000MW.

The World Bank estimates that as many as 600 million of Africa’s 1billion population lack access to electricity. The Azura platform seeks to ameliorate this acute shortage of power on the African continent with a primary focus on gas-to-power assets in addition to the development of renewable projects within Nigeria.

The Azura platform is anchored on the Azura-Edo IPP, a 1,500MW power station complex located in Edo State, Nigeria, which is being developed in three phases with the first (459MW) phase currently under construction. Azura’s Nigerian investments also include a controlling stake in the 125MWp, gridscale, Nova Solar project which is currently under development in Katsina State.

Outside of Nigeria, the entry of Actis into the Azura platform has triggered significant deal flow in other sub-Saharan countries and the business expects to grow its portfolio rapidly over the coming 12 months.

The two partners in the newly expanded Azura platform have a wealth of complementary experience. Amaya is a tightly focused principal investment firm that has focused on the West African gas to power market. It invests in a proactive manner using the capital, capabilities, and resources of its founders and associates. Actis, with c.$6 billion of assets under management, has also been active in the African market since the early 2000s but with a more geographically diverse footprint.

It has invested close to $1billion in energy projects across the region and the firm has frequently been recognised for its energy expertise, winning ‘African Infrastructure Fund Manager of the year’ for four consecutive years by infrastructure investor.