Burkina Faso | Africa Inc.

Vista Group Holdings SA secures US$69m Intra Africa Investment Finance Facility from Afreximbank

July 22, 2021July 22, 2021 Frank

WEST AFRICA – African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has closed a €59.2 million (US$69.72m) Intra Africa Investment Finance Facility to finance Vista Group Holdings SA’s acquisition of majority stakes in two banks. The banks are Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l’Industrie de la Guinée (BICIGUI) and Banque Internationale pour le Commerce, l’Industrie et l’Agriculture du Burkina (BICIAB). The stakes in the two banks, which operate in Guinea and Burkina Faso respectively, are being acquired from BNP Paribas who is exiting these markets for operational reasons. The shift to African control…

Coris Bank secures US$23m investment from ITFC for improvement of access to finance SMEs

July 2, 2021July 2, 2021 Frank

BURKINA FASO – The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, continues its ongoing commitment to strengthen private sector development in Burkina Faso through its latest Murabaha financing agreement with Coris Bank International (CBI). The €20 million (US$23.65m) agreement is part of the West Africa SMEs Program, a flagship program of ITFC aimed at improving access to finance for SMEs in the region by providing them, as well as partner banks, with credit and capacity building facilities. It is estimated that SMEs…

GreenYellow secures US$25m loan from FMO for development of solar plant

June 7, 2021June 7, 2021 Frank

BURKINA FASO – French renewable energy developer GreenYellow, a unit of the Casino Group, has secured a €21 million (US$25.57m) loan by Dutch development bank FMO for its solar power plant in Nagréongo, Burkina Faso. The money will be given in three tranches of €7.9 million (US$9.62m), €7 million (US$8.52m), and €6.1 million (US$7.43m), by FMO’s Fund for Access to Energy. “We look forward to contributing to a substantial increase in production capacity from renewable resources in Burkina Faso, at lower costs,” said Huub Cornelissen, director of energy at FMO.…

IsDB, ICD partner with MEBF to address issues faced by women entrepreneurs

April 13, 2021April 13, 2021 Frank

BURKINA FASO – The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group and its private sector development arm, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), have joined hands with the government of Burkina Faso, through Maison de l’Entreprise du Burkina Faso (MEBF), to implement the Business Resilience Assistance for Value-adding Enterprises (BRAVE Women) Project in the country. This BRAVE Women Burkina Faso project falls under the sponsorship of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), a collaborative partnership among fourteen donor governments (including Saudi Arabia), eight multilateral development banks (including…

Burkina Faso secures US$34m from EAIF for the construction of 30MW solar plant

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021 Frank

BURKINA FASO – Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) has provided US$34.59 million to Burkina Faso to support the construction of 30MW solar plant which will supply national grid. EAIF, a member of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) is lending the project’s developer, Urbasolar SAS, 80% of the capital needed for the construction of the facility which is estimated to have a US$42.22 million development cost. EAIF is the sole lender to the project, its 20th clean energy project, providing US$34.59 million of the estimated Financial close (the transfer of…

Global Fund partners with Burkina Faso to launch four new health grants

March 8, 2021March 8, 2021 Frank

BURKINA FASO – The Government of Burkina Faso, the Global Fund and health partners strengthened their partnership by launching four new grants to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics and strengthen health systems. The new grants, worth a total of EUR 205.1 million (US$243.4m), represent a 60% increase from the previous three-year allocation cycle and will cover the 2021-2023 implementation period. To date, the Global Fund has invested EUR 768 million (US$911.4m) in Burkina Faso to support the country’s efforts to fight the three diseases and…

EU approves US$11m to boost interconnection project between Ghana and Burkina Faso

January 30, 2021February 5, 2021 Frank

GHANA – The European Union (EU), through the French Development Agency – Agence Francaise Development (AFD), has approved a new €9.7 million euros (US$11.77m) grant for the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) to boost infrastructure works on the interconnection line between Ghana and Burkina Faso. This is expected to increase electricity access in Northern Ghana and exporting capacity to the sub-region, especially Burkina Faso. The EU grant facility will be used to finance the upgrade of an 18km long 161kV transmission line located between Ahodwo and Anwomaso substation in Ghana’s second…

EIB provides US$46m debt to photovoltaic park in Burkina Faso, increasing power generation capacity

January 29, 2021January 29, 2021 Frank

BURKINA FASO – The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced EUR 38.5 million (US$46.6m) in debt for a project that will lift by a third the power generation capacity of a 37-MW solar park in Burkina Faso. The photovoltaic (PV) park is being operated by Burkina Faso’s national electric utility Sonabel, the lender said. The utility has committed to invest EUR 70.5 million (US$85.39m) in an expansion scheme that aims to raise the capacity of the plant to 50 MW and thus help it response to the 10% annual increase…

Endeavour Mining merges with Teranga Gold to make it a top 10 senior gold producer

November 17, 2020November 17, 2020 Frank

BURKINA FASO – Endeavour Mining Corporation and Teranga Gold Corporation have entered into a definitive agreement, whereby Endeavour will acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of Teranga by way of a Plan of Arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act. The merger, in which existing Endeavour and Teranga shareholders will own approximately 66% and 34%, respectively, of the combined company on a fully diluted in-the-money basis, will create a new top 10 senior gold producer with average annual production of more than 1.5 Moz with industry-leading low production…

Burkina Faso inaugurates new US$5.8m solar panel production plant

September 28, 2020September 28, 2020 Frank

BURKINA FASO – Burkina Faso has inaugurated a new solar panel production plant in the country’s capital, Ouagadougou. The facility which was commissioned by Burkinabe Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabiré was constructed at a cost of 3 billion CFA francs (about US$5.8 million). The solar production plant initiated by El hadj Moussa Koanda has a capacity of producing 200 solar panels a day which translates to an annual production capacity of about 30MW of solar panels Named “Faso Energy”, the plant will promote the acquisition of solar energy equipment…