Actis exits Lekela
Actis, a UK based investment firm, and Mainstream, the global wind and solar company, have successfully completed the sale of 100% of the Lekela platform to Infinity Power, a joint venture between Egypt’s Infinity and the UAE’s Masdar.
Lekela was established in 2015 in a joint venture between Actis (60%), and a Mainstream-led consortium called Mainstream Renewable Power Africa Holdings (40%), to deliver clean energy across Africa. Lekela has since become Africa’s largest pure-play renewable energy IPP, with over 1 GW of fully operational wind assets, including five operational wind farms in South Africa (624MW), one operational wind farm in Egypt (252MW), one operational wind farm in Senegal (159MW) as well as development opportunities in Ghana, Senegal and Egypt.
The exit reflects the culmination of Actis and Mainstream’s partnership strategy for Lekela, following a comprehensive value creation approach.
Lucy Heintz, partner and head of energy infrastructure of Actis said, “We are delighted to announce the successful exit of Lekela. When we established Lekela, we were determined to ensure the business became a role model for what a sustainable business should look like in Africa and we are leaving the business strongly positioned both as a recognised sustainability leader and as a key player in the African energy transition, with a 2.8GW portfolio of projects in operation and development. We are confident Lekela, with its new shareholders, will continue to play a leading role in the energy transition across the continent.”
Mary Quaney, group chief executive at Mainstream Renewable Power said, “We are immensely proud of the role we have played in building and nurturing what is today Africa’s largest pure play renewable energy IPP and I am confident that Lekela will continue to make a major contribution to a just, and therefore sustainable, energy transition. Mainstream is deeply committed to our mission of leading the global transition to renewable energy and our 150-strong proudly South African team is focused on bringing our 11.5GW pipeline of wind and solar projects in South Africa to fruition this decade and beyond.”
Chris Antonopoulos, CEO of Lekela said, “We can already see that the backing of Lekela’s new investors, Infinity Power, will make our next chapter an exciting one. We remain committed to delivering clean, reliable power for communities and countries across Africa. To do this we are growing our pipeline, exploring new technologies and will continue to create positive impact for the communities where we operate. We would like to thank Actis and the Mainstream-led consortium for all their support and guidance over the last eight years. Together, we grew Lekela from zero to over 1GW of wind power in operation and proved renewable energy has the potential to contribute to Africa’s sustainable future. We now look forward to working with Infinity Power, as well as its shareholders and stakeholders to continue this work and further accelerate the growth of Lekela.”
Citi and Clifford Chance advised Actis and Mainstream on the Lekela transaction.