Focus – June 2024

Welcome to the Summer 2024 edition of Focus.  Trinity is proud to be attending the Africa Energy Form (AEF) in Barcelona from 25 to 28 June 2024. Please come and see us at Stand A114.

The beginning of June saw the Asia Clean Energy Forum, hosted by the Asian Development Bank in Manila. The theme of the forum was “Accelerating the Clean Energy Transition and ensuring Energy Security and Affordability – Time for Urgent Action Now”, focusing on how to improve access to clean energy amongst some of the most disadvantaged communities in the Asia-Pacific and Central Asian region. Over five days, the conference looked at green energy transition, energy efficient policies, the role of the carbon markets, ocean technologies and financing solutions – with varied sessions focusing on specific sectors and jurisdictions. Trinity London Partner, Fiona Gulliford, joined the panel for an ADB led session on “Structuring and Financing Pathfinder Climate Projects in New Sectors”. The session looked at diverse and complex pathfinder projects supported by ADB in the region, including structuring bankable green hydrogen projects and promoting and subsidizing clean cooking fuel projects in South East Asia to district heating projects in Uzbekistan, and the first in jurisdiction floating and ground mounted solar IPP being developed in the Maldives. With her fellow panelists, Fiona looked at the key challenges to developing climate friendly projects in new sectors, often utilizing new technologies, and how to address or mitigate the key risks to the private sector, in order to catalyze project development and procure financing support.

In recent times clear signs are showing of a growing secondary market for African infrastructure assets. Many of our readers will have been involved in primary market transactions over the years, and partner Conrad Marais and associate Adekanmi Lawson provide their observations here on the growing maturity of the sector on the African continent.

Partner Natasha Peter and associate Maksym Kodunov take a look at approaches to excluding liability for wilful default, looking at recent English case law and comparing with principles of French law. You can read their article here.

In an OHADA law update, partner Marianna Sédéfian summarises the entry into force of the new uniform act on organisation of simplified procedures for debt recovery and enforcement procedures here.

We are again pleased to announce that we continue to grow our team across our offices.  In London, we welcome Katchenin Kone as an associate, who joins us from a large UK firm having also worked for several years in-house at a major investment bank. Yusuf Olalere joins as a paralegal, and he has previously worked at one of the largest Nigerian law firms. We also welcome Lydia Morgan as a legal secretary.  In Paris, we are very pleased to announce that Alexis Giroulet has been promoted from associate to senior associate, and Mama-Sahale Souare will be promoted from intern (stagiaire) to associate this month. In addition, Yolande Lopez joins the Paris office as Office Manager and Personal Assistant.

In Deal News, since the last edition of Focus, we have been delighted to advise our clients in reaching the following milestones:

• Our Paris Office has advised Groupe Qair (“Qair”), an independent renewable energy company, in the context of the financing of a greenfield solar photovoltaic plant with a total capacity of 10-megawatt to be located in Feriana town, Kasserine Governorate, Tunisia. The project, developed under Tunisia’s authorisation regime, will enable the country to reduce its CO2 emissions by 8,560 tonnes a year and to decrease its reliance on fossil energy. The project is in line with Tunisia’s goal of achieving 30% renewable energy production by 2030. Trinity’s team was led from Paris by Marianna Sédéfian (Partner) and Yassine Allam (Senior Associate) acting as international legal advisers, with the support of Meziou Knani & Khlif on Tunisian law aspects. https://www.qair.energy/tunisia-qair-secures-financing-for-two-10-mw-photovoltaic-power-plants/

• We are delighted to have advised Meridiam on the pivotal loan from British International Investment to Rift Valley Energy, its wholly owned subsidiary, to finance projects that will expand access to sustainable electricity in rural areas in Tanzania. The wind and hydropower projects supported by the financing will provide energy to about 170,000 people per year and connect 4,000 businesses and households to the grid for the first time. The deal highlights Trinity’s continued commitment to supporting rural electrification and our expertise in portfolio-based financing. The Trinity team was led by partner Rinku Bhadoria with corporate input from partner Conrad Marais and support from senior associate Elizabeth Handley. https://www.bii.co.uk/en/news-insight/news/bii-signs-agreement-with-meridiam-to-provide-15m-to-rift-valley-energy-to-expand-access-to-sustainable-energy-in-tanzania/

• Trinity International’s Paris Office has advised the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI), a fund managed by Cygnum Capital, on all aspects of a financing granted to NuRAN Wireless (Africa) Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of NuRAN Wireless Inc. (NuRAN). NuRAN is a rural telecommunications company that meets the growing demand for wireless network coverage in remote and rural regions, especially in Africa. The financing will enhance the implementation of renewable energy assets for mobile network infrastructure in respect of existing and new Network as a Service agreements in Cameroon and DRC. The funding from FEI will allow NuRAN to connect a population of over 3 million, bringing connectivity to undeserved communities. We are proud to have assisted the FEI team. Trinity’s team was led from Paris by Marianna Sédéfian (Partner), Yassine Allam (Senior Associate) and Yalda Khalife (Associate) acting as international legal advisers, with the support of Benoit Chambers on Mauritian law aspects, Amadagana & Partners on Cameroonian law aspects and OVK Law Firm on Congolese law aspects.

• Trinity is proud to have advised AgDevCo on its recent investment in Cashew Coast – a fast-growing cashew nut processing business in Cote d’Ivoire. AgDevCo’s mezzanine loan of €9.0 million (5.9 billion FCFA) will finance the expansion of the company’s processing capacity and the construction of new warehouses, alongside farmer productivity programmes. The investment is a huge step in the right direction for African agribusiness. Partner Lucy Johnson led the team with assistance from counsel Kanmi Lawson and associate Demilade Banjoko. Further details are provided in AgDevCo’s press release here: https://agdevco.com/site/assets/files/2079/press_release_cashew_coast_june_2024_-_english.pdf

• Our Paris Office has advised STOA, an impact fund created in 2017 by the Caisse des Dépôts and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) investing in infrastructure and energy in emerging and developing countries, in relation with its investment in NetZero, the French company pioneering the long-term sequestration of atmospheric carbon in soils. This marks STOA’s first investment in carbon removal. The transaction relates to a total proposed investment of €18 million and should allow NetZero to industrialize its technology and to deploy its sites on a large scale in tropical countries, with a view to sequester more than 5 million tonnes of CO2 in aggregate, from now and until 2030. The Trinity team was led by Giuliano Lastrucci (Counsel), supported by Pierre Bernheim (Partner) and by Francesca Ngahane (Associate) and Mama Sahale Souare (Trainee).