(Bloomberg) -- France’s state development bank Proparco is an anchor investor for IHS Holdings Ltd.’s $1.2 billion dual-tranche bond issue, one of the biggest ever for an African telecoms operator.
Most of the proceeds will help refinance debt and extend maturities, Emmanuelle Riedel Drouin, Proparco’s head of lending, said in an interview. Other investors include the International Finance Corp. and the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund.
State development finance institutions are increasingly stepping in to unlock private capital for companies in Africa, where most economies are hobbled by lack of infrastructure. The African Development Bank estimates the region needs to invest between $130 billion and $170 billion annually on infrastructure, and has a current gap of around $100 billion.
“The role of development finance institutions on the continent is becoming more and more to mobilize private capital,” Drouin said. Proparco played a similar anchoring role for Ecobank Transnational Inc.’s $400 million of eurobonds issued last month, she said.
Proparco is also investing in riskier transactions related to climate change, equality and deals to boost the African economy, as a catalyst to draw more private capital to the continent. “Public money alone is not enough, and there is really a business case for the private sector in emerging economies,” she said.
The financier’s focus area is Africa, where it has been operating for 45 years, with as much of 50% of its transactions on the continent.
Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. were among bookrunners on the transaction for New York-listed IHS, which operates 40,000 towers across Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
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