‘Green’ investment in MEA hits $8.7bn

Dubai / Emirates Business

Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) in renewables sector picked up in 2016 across the Middle East and Africa after a long period of slow activity, according to EY report ‘Power transactions
and trends: 2016 review and 2017 outlook’. Greenfield activities continue to dominate power and utility transactions in the region, attracting $8.7 billion investment last year (based on disclosed values).
Key investment announcements in the last quarter of 2016 included the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has coordinated a debt financing of US$ 115.5 million to set up a desalination plant in Egypt. Additionally, in the UAE, consortium of lenders including Islamic Development Bank, Natixis, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and First Gulf Bank invested to build 800 MW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar PV Phase III. The UAE also saw new projects across coal, nuclear, and solar, funded by local and Asian investors, to support its raised renewable energy target from 24% to 26% to help fight climate change. Separately, Dubai launched a $27 billion green fund to support global sustainability projects.
David Lloyd, Middle East Power and Utilities Transactions Leader, EY, says: “In 2016 we saw the continuing successful deployment of the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model to procure new generating capacity, for both conventional and renewable energy. DEWA’s achievement towards the end of 2016 in reaching financial close on the clean coal Hassyan IPP and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar PV Phase III shows the pace and scale by which successful projects are coming to market in the region. The focus in 2017 will be very much on the KSA renewable energy program, now that this has been launched by the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, and on potential investment opportunities from the Saudi Electricity Company’s unbundling into four generation companies.”