British investment dominates energy sector

The energy sector in Cameroon is now dominated by British investment, in terms of the effective production capacity.

It was revealed that the Group Eranove, formerly Finagestion, is planning to build a thermal power plant with a capacity of 315 MW in Limbe, Southwest Cameroon on March 6, 2015.

The details of the project are not yet clearly defined and an official in Eranove indicated that the project was still at a preliminary stage. But the call for expression of interest to hire a firm to carry out the feasibility study for the project is real and actually reveals the designs of Eranove on the Cameroonian electricity sector.

What is more interesting however, is the fact that Eranove is 57% owned by the fonds d'Investissement Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), which itself is one of the investment vehicles in Africa of the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), a development finance Institute owned by the British Government.

More directly, the CDC announced on February 3, 2015, a plan to strengthen ties with the Norwegian Fund Norfund, as part of a strategic alliance that will allow redeem Globeleq Africa, the secular arm of the British investment fund Actis, in the independent production of electricity in Africa.

This alliance will permit Globeleq Africa to boost its investments in the electricity sector in the countries of the black continent, including Cameroon, where the company is already present with a majority stake in the capital of companies that manage gaz de Kribi and Dibamba oil plants.

But, the most remarkable presence in the sector of electricity in Cameroon is certainly that of Actis, the British investments Fund which bought 47% of shares which were previously held by the US group AES Corporation in the concessionary company of the public service of electricity in Cameroon (Eneo).