UBA Partners Gabon, CODER On Power Projects

In demonstration of its capacity to support infrastructure development projects in Africa and undertake major project financing, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), through its subsidiaries – UBA Gabon and UBA Capital (Africa), is collaborating with, Company for the Development of Renewable Energy (CODER) and Gabon’s Ministry of Energy in the construction of a 36 mega watts (mw) hydro power generating plant in the central Africa nation.

UBA Capital (Africa), the investment banking arm of UBA Group, on the continent, the financial adviser to CODER, in the power project to be built on the FE 2 Dam, at the river Okano in the northern part of the country.

The 36MW Hydro Power Project and a sister project at Imperatrice Dam, also a CODER project, are expected to stimulate economic activity in the oil rich Gabon and help towards poverty alleviation. It is part of a 30-year concession package on electricity generation, negotiated by CODER with Gabonese Government in May 2010.

The participation of UBA Group in the projects are in furtherance of the group’s infrastructural development initiatives across Africa, and in line with its increasing involvement in big project financing and advisory services across the continent. The electricity projects estimated to cost about USD234 million has a completion time of 30 months.

The ground breaking ceremony of the FE 2 project, the first of the two projects was performed recently by the Gabonese President Mr Ali Bongo Ondimba and witnessed by the officials of CODER and UBA Gabon. The project is part of the 30 year concession package negotiated by CODER with Gabonese Government.

Rasheed Olaoluwa, CEO, UBA Africa said the bank’s participation in the projects comes on the heels of a recent conferment  of “Financial Institutions Gold Award” on UBA by Africa Import and Export Bank (Afreximbank) for its role in financing and expanding inter African trade and project financing. It also follows the €234m oil and gas financing deal with Societe Africaine de Raffinage, the national refinery of Senegal.

Olaoluwa said that the involvement of UBA Gabon in this project underscores the increasingly important roles being played by UBA Group and its subsidiaries in funding infrastructure development on the continent. “We are adequately positioned to support private and public institutions to activate growth and development in Africa, whether in infrastructure finance, trade expansion or financial advisory services,” Olaoluwa said.  He reiterated the Bank’s resolve to partake in similar projects in other countries of our operation.

United Bank for Africa Plc is one of Africa’s leading financial institutions offering banking services to more than 7.5 million customer accounts. With operations   in 17 African countries and presence in London, New York and Paris, UBA is able to intermediate in funding, investment, trade flows and advisory services within the continent and beyond