International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to invest USD 100 Mn (SAR 375 Mn) in ACWA Power

ACWA Power today announced the signing of the subscription agreement by International Financial Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, for a new issue of primary equity shares involving a total investment of USD 100 Million (SAR 375Mn).

Mohammad A. Abunayyan, Chairman of ACWA Power said “Being one of the few companies globally that added over 15,000 MW of power generation capacity in the last decade, and one of the world’s largest owners and operators of sea water desalination plants, all in emerging market, we are proud of this achievement which in turn attracted the interest of IFC who have committed their largest equity investment in not only Saudi Arabia but also in the MENA region through this shareholding in ACWA Power”

Paddy Padmanathan, President and CEO of ACWA Power stated: “We are excited by the possibilities that this partnership brings, especially having understood each other through IFC being a co-investor and lender on several assets in ACWA Power’s portfolio.  IFC and ACWA Power are aligned in ACWA Power’s commitment to deliver electricity and/or desalinated water at the lowest possible price to support the social and economic development of the emerging economies that ACWA Power has elected to participate in Middle East, the Levant, Africa and South East Asia, in general, and to lead the broadening of fuel mix to include renewable energy in the MENA region and to focus on increasing the efficiency of fuel utilization, in particular.”

Mouayed Makhlouf, IFC Director for the Middle East and North Africa said “This partnership will help increase power generation capacity, which will help to meet the increasing demand in emerging markets, especially in MENA. ACWA Power’s success in emerging markets should set a strong example to encourage further cross-border foreign direct investments, especially from Gulf countries, to emerging countries within the region and beyond.”

ACWA Power is a developer, investor, co-owner and operator of a portfolio of plants across 9 countries, with a capacity to generate 15,290 MW of power and produce 2.4 million m3/day of desalinated water, which has an investment value in excess of USD 22 billion.

ACWA Power was born out of the policy decision by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to increase private sector involvement in the power generation and desalinated water production sectors to include ownership and operation of assets, and has now grown to be an investor, developer and operator of power generation and desalinated water producing plants in which it has a meaningful economic interest and exercises management control.