International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank, is looking to invest in a 50 megawatt photovoltaic (PV) plant being developed by Shapoorji Energy (Egypt) SAE in Egypt, it said in a disclosure.
Shapoorji Energy (Egypt) SAE is a subsidiary of Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital Company Ltd.
IFC’s proposed investment includes debt financing of $19 million from its own account (also called ‘A’ loans) and syndications of up to $38 million from other financial institutions. The total project cost is estimated to be around $76 million.
The proposed project is being set up inside a 1.8 gigawatt PV solar park spread over an area of 37.5 square km in Benban village, situated close to Aswan city in southern Egypt.
The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project is Sterling and Wilson Pvt. Ltd, a company under Shapoorji Pallonji Group. According to the release, Sterling and Wilson’s EPC division has an installed solar capacity of more than 1 gigawatt.
IFC has an active direct private equity-style investment practice in India. It also lends to firms and has an active limited partner, or LP, portfolio in India where it backs PE and VC funds.
Shapoorji Pallonji Group is a conglomerate with investments in diverse sectors including real estate, mechanical, electrical and plumbing contracting, water purification, infrastructure development and solar power generation. It set up Shapoorji Energy (Egypt) SAE in 1997 to develop and own infrastructure assets, primarily power, ports, resources and transportation, under the public-private partnership mode.
In February, IFC had said that it planned to invest up to $15 million in solar power solutions firm Clean Max Enviro.
