Pele Energy raises new capital for growth
Company, Investec seal funding deal
Pele Energy Group, South Africa’s largest black-owned independent power production and development firm, this week raised new capital for growth and working capital through a unique preference share funding structure with Investec Bank.
Obakeng Moloabi, Pele’s co-founder and director, said the structure of their deal with Investec had accounted for Pele’s full energy investment portfolio and long-term revenues to provide holistic business funding.
“Investec’s ability to assess Pele’s business comprehensively rather than limit risk to the project level, is novel, demonstrating an appreciation of the full business model, which couples energy investments with a wide variety of related services, ranging from construction management to community development,” Moloabi said.
“Ultimately, by scaling investments in energy and economically isolated communities, we seek to make a contribution to the attainment of the goals of South Africa’s National Development Plan.”
Additionally, Investec has provided acquisition funding to increase Pele’s stake in the Touwsrivier Concentrated Photovoltaic Power Project in Cape Town.
Pele was founded in 2009 by Thapelo Motlogeloa, Fumani Mthembi, Boipelo Moloabi, Gqi Raoleka and Obakeng Moloabi
The Pele Group holds three subsidiaries – Pele Green Energy which is a renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) company, Pele Natural Energy, a base load IPP, and Knowledge Pele, a research and development advisory firm.
Head of power and infrastructure finance for sub-saharan Africa at Investec, Andre Wepener, said the timing of the transactions reflected the willingness of all parties to invest in the future, looking beyond current circumstances.
“According to the Economist magazine, worldwide CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions dropped by 1.4% in 2009 after the global financial crisis, but in the following year they were rising at a faster rate, around 5.9%,” Wepener said. “We are mindful of the potential climate risks when the economy restarts and therefore stand firm in our commitment to clean energy investments as they will make the new economy a sustainable one.”