A Healthy Uptick in Inbound Investment in African E & I
In 2025 we saw a marked increase in inbound investment into the African energy and infrastructure, with Bracewell advising on over $ 2 billion of financings alone. developed operational pan-African portfolios of( mainly) renewable power projects in a remarkably short space of time. Recent work with the likes of Anzana Electric Group and CrossBoundary Energy are just a couple of examples of this remarkable success story.
Recent Notable Matters
With a significant and historic shortfall in energy and infrastructure investment across sub-Saharan Africa as against a burgeoning population, with projections showing that one in four children will be born on the continent by 2050, the pages of type on the great lag between ever growing demand and the ongoing shortfall in supply increase year on year. However, whilst some of the structural constraints, from insufficient government liquidity through to regulatory jams and achieving the required hurdle rates, remain, there are a number of reasons why the natural pessimist may be given pause for thought in 2026.
From greater political and with it, regulatory, stability and liberalisation alongside the opening up of public transmission to private wheeling and the growing liquidity on the various markets of the regional power pools, developers and, as importantly, lenders( both commercial as well the multi-laterals) are slowly re-working the way in which energy infrastructure projects are structured and financed, creating new models of investment which are more akin to those seen in deregulated‘ open’ markets. For example, Bracewell is currently advising the Botswana Power Corporation on the connection, wheeling and SAPP arrangements for the Tati solar IPP, which will be one of the first fully merchant power projects in the region.
It is also interesting to see that some of the more significant investment is coming from non-traditional players, and in particular the trading houses and oil and gas associated investors – bringing with the deep pockets created by some very healthy returns in the upstream and midstream hydrocarbons sector. Bracewell is currently advising a nonbank lender on a structurally subordinated facility for a portfolio of midstream and civil infrastructure assets in East Africa.
Finally, these new development models and investment structures comes the ability to build at scale and across jurisdictions. A number of our developer clients have
• Project Crested Crane— advising a non-bank lender on a structurally subordinated facility for a portfolio of midstream and civil infrastructure assets
• Project Navitas— advising CrossBoundary Energy on its mezzanine facilities for the development of its pan African mining focused power portfolio
• Weza Power SU— advising Weza Power, a subsidiary of Anzana Electric Group, on the development of a PPP private distribution network in Burundi
• Tati-Solar— advising the Botswana Power Corporation on the connection, wheeling and SAPP arrangements for the Tati solar IPP, which will be one of the first fully merchant power projects in the region
• Aysha wind IPP— advising Amea Power on the development and financing of the 300 MW Aysha wind IPP, Ethiopia
• Project Hippo— advising the private credit funds and bank lenders on the structurally subordinated $ 1 billion debt platform for a pan-African portfolio of generation assets
The Year Ahead
We expect to see the continued growth of investment in the energy and infrastructure sector across sub-Saharan Africa, with developers and lenders continuing to push the boundaries of‘ bankable’ project structures and with it building portfolios of projects at scale and, with it, better managing market risk. Bracewell and others active in the space, Rovina represents both a landmark deal and a blueprint for the future of criticalminerals funding. bracewell. com