Dubai-based AMEA Power secures $75 mn funding from Japan’s SoftBank

Renewable power developer in Africa receives first external equity funding, forging partnership to maximize value in region; other corporate and institutional investors evaluating potential investment, the company says

AMEA Power, a renewable energy developer in Africa, announced this week that it has secured $75 million in equity funding from SoftBank Group (SBG) Corp, a Japanese investment holding company. According to the company’s statement, this is AMEA Power’s first external equity funding following years of being privately funded by its founding shareholders, the Al Nowais family.

SBG’s funding will allow AMEA Power and SBG to explore a mutual partnership, which will lead to maximizing the value creation of AMEA Power mainly in the AMEA region. The capital raise from Softbank is an all-equity round. Several international institutional strategic corporate and financial investors are also evaluating a potential investment, the company says.

Hussain Al Nowais, Chairman of AMEA Power, said: “The funds raised will enable us to accelerate our strategic ambitions, materialize further projects in the power, water and green hydrogen sectors, and to continue to further expand our presence in target markets.”

SBG & AMEA

This investment in the energy sector is not new for SBG. SB Energy, a division of SBG, describes itself as “a full-service developer, owner and operator of clean energy projects,” as stated on the company’s website. Toyota Tsusho announced it was taking an 85% stake in SB Energy Corp. ("SB Energy"), a Japanese wholly-owned subsidiary of SBG, in February.

Founded in 2016, AMEA Power has pursued projects across Africa, the Middle East and other emerging markets, scaling up investments in wind, solar, energy storage, green hydrogen, and water desalination. The company has a generating capacity, in operation and under construction, of approximately 1.45 Gigawatts (GW) and has a clean energy pipeline of nearly 6 GW across 15 countries.

Last month, Energy & Utilities reported that AMEA Power had partnered with Sumitomo to create Amunet Wind Power Company to develop a large wind farm in Egypt.

Three months ago, another report by Energy & Utilities showed that AMEA Power is going to build an 85 MW solar plant in South Africa’s North West Province.

At the beginning of this year, Al Nowais spoke at length about solar being an important resource particularly in West Africa during an interview with Energy & Utilities.

David Haziri contributed reporting