On June 1 local time, the CEEC Songon Project Company signed the Master Financial Agreement for the Songon 372MW Combined Cycle Power Project in Côte d'Ivoire with a syndicate of 11 banks and multilateral institutions, led by Standard Chartered Bank, Standard Bank of South Africa, Pan-African Bank, and Atlantic Bank. The signing of this financial agreement sets an industry precedent for Chinese-invested projects in Africa being led by a purely international syndicate, marking the project's full entry into the fast track to construction commencement.
The Songon Combined Cycle Power Plant Project, funded by China Energy Overseas Investment Co., Ltd. with a total investment of approximately EUR 659 million, is CEEC's first energy investment project in West Africa. With a concession period of 35 years, the project is expected to generate approximately 2.8 billion kWh of electricity annually upon completion, providing stable, clean, and efficient power supply to more than 31 million people in Côte d'Ivoire.
The multi-currency, multi-tenor layered project syndicate comprises multiple international multilateral institutions, international and regional African commercial banks, as well as Islamic financial institutions. It represents the first large-scale non-recourse project financing case for a Chinese-invested enterprise in Africa that is fully financed by an international financial institution syndicate and backed by European export credit agency cover, setting a new benchmark for overseas investment financing by Chinese enterprises.
