Standard Bank: Finance for African energy deals eyed

Published Aug 5, 2014

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Standard Bank will seek to finance renewable energy projects and arrange the sale of power infrastructure in Africa as it meets with governments and US companies in Washington this week. Africa’s largest lender wanted to broker deals that allowed nations to sell power assets to US firms, similar to one in Nigeria last year, co-chief executive Sim Tshabalala said yesterday. “We are talking either with authorities or clients to put in place the transactions. A lot of policymakers, a lot of the people providing equipment and a lot of the people providing the finance and risk mitigation instruments will be here. The idea is to reduce the strain on the environment, which is economically and philosophically sound thing to do,” Tshabalala said. “It works for South Africa and the same argument applies in the rest of the continent.” The shares rose 1.70 percent to close at R146.95 yesterday. – Bloomberg

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