Finnfund finances energy efficient solar power solutions in Nigeria’s banking sector

Finnish development financier Finnfund has signed a pioneering 5 million US dollar long-term senior debt financing to Starsight Power Utility Limited group. Starsight offers solar-diesel-battery hybrid generation and efficient cooling and lighting solutions to commercial and industrial clients throughout Nigeria. Starsight’s solution will cut the customer’s use of fossil fuels by up to 70% thanks to improved energy efficiency and the use of solar power.

“Nigeria regularly suffers from power outages and especially commercial and industrial companies are heavily dependent on diesel generators”, says Finnfund’s Investment Manager Eero Pekkanen. “Starsight’s service offering is an innovative solution for the customers’ electricity needs as for a fixed monthly fee, the customers can cut their electricity costs and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.”

“We are pleased to partner with Finnfund and Norfund at the forefront of our bid to deliver improved energy reliability, cost savings and environmental benefits to Nigeria’s commercial and industrial power consumers”, says Damilola Agbaje, Director at Starsight and Investment Principal at African Infrastructure Investment Managers. “Together, we are reimagining power provision to key employers in the Nigerian economy.”

The debt financing of Starsight is Finnfund’s first step into the energy market in Nigeria. With the additional 10 million US dollars of total funding from Finnfund and Norfund, Starsight will install its innovative solar power generation systems across a portfolio of several hundred commercial bank branches in Nigeria. Starsight is backed by Helios Investment Partners and the African Infrastructure Investment Managers, the largest Africa-focused, private equity and infrastructure investment firms.

For more information:
Eero Pekkanen, Investment Manager, eero.pekkanen(a)finnfund.fi, tel. +358 40 158 9200

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