Ghana: ARM-Harith backed ship repair company secures funding for project
PMD Assetco lands $94 million in senior debt funding.
A consortium, including the African Development Bank, has signed an agreement to extend $94 million in senior debt funding to PMD Assetco for the construction and operation of a floating dock ship repair facility in Ghana’s western Takoradi port.
Other consortium members are the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), and Petra Pension Schemes.
With this milestone, the project, nicknamed ‘Shiprite’, has secured the total commitment of all providers for the required $137 million in capital. When completed, the facility will house a new 13,500-tonne lift-capacity floating drydock, 30,000 square metres of reclaimed land, a 200-metre jetty, a modern workshop, offices, and heavy marine equipment.
Prime Meridian Docks (PMD) is a Ghanaian ship repair company with Free Zones Service Enterprise status and a 25-year concession from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
Kanayo Awani, executive vice president, Intra-African Trade and Export Development Bank, Afreximbank, emphasised the project’s significance: “The strategic location of this facility will provide shipowners whose vessels trade within the Gulf of Guinea with world-class repair and maintenance services. As the mandated lead arranger, we are confident that Shiprite will enhance intra-African trade and foster regional economic growth and integration. By providing services that would have otherwise been lost to foreign shipyard repair facilities, the interventions of Prime Meridian Docks will retain much-needed foreign currency within the continent.”
Chris Hammond, chairman of the boards of the Petra Advantage and Petra Opportunity Pension Schemes, said, “The participation of the Petra Pension Schemes in Project Shiprite represents a pioneering move by these pension funds into project finance and infrastructure fund investments. This initiative supports the broader diversification agenda of the schemes and the wider local pensions industry.”
Jobalo Oshikanlu, deputy CEO of the ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund, PMD’s equity partner remarked, “We are proud to reach this milestone, having worked through the years with yet another resilient African sponsor in overcoming the bankability challenges in what promises to be a game-changing piece of infrastructure in the region.”
* Subscribe to Africa Private Equity News’ monthly Dealmaker’s Log for a database of the reported investment deals, exits and fundraising closes. Click here for more information.