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Japanese investors heading in project finance in Africa

Japanese investors heading in project finance in Africa African Continent - NASA image courtesy Reto Stöckli and Robert Simmon (Source: Flickr, CC, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Francisco Rojas 30 Mar 2015

Linklaters: "The surge, especially in the last five years, is attributable to Japanese investors, who have ramped up their project finance commitments in Africa by a staggering 576%, culminating with $3.54billion"

In a recent update from Linklaters it is stated that Japanese are leading the way in procuring investment and finance for different projects in Africa.

It is well know that several nations have been developing their energy potential. Geothermal has actually been on the rise in countries like Kenya. According to the post “The most attractive project finance investment destinations in Africa for Asian sponsors over the last ten years have been Nigeria (attracting $22.8billion) South Africa ($6.8billion), Mozambique ($5.9billion), Egypt ($5.48billion) and the Democratic  Republic of Congo ($5.36billion). Projects currently in development with Asian backing include building a road for transporting agricultural products and natural resources between the port of Nacala and landlocked countries Malawi and Zambia, construction of geothermal power plants in Ethiopia”

This process has clearly been on the rise in the last decade and gone even faster in the last five years. The same source details that “The surge, especially in the last five years, is attributable to Japanese investors, who have ramped up their project finance commitments in Africa by a staggering 576%, culminating with $3.54billion invested in last year alone as a result of a large focus on projects in Morocco. Japan now ranks as the most active Asian project finance sponsor in Africa, investing almost three times as much as China which is often regarded as the most active Asian investor on the continent.”

To read the full news release, please follow the link below:

Source: Linklaters