Hogan Lovells advises U.S. International Development Finance Corporation in US$20M financing for project that will fund solar home systems in Kenya
New York and London, 12 June 2020 – International law firm Hogan Lovells advised U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), an independent U.S. agency that provides financing to the private sector for projects in the developing world, in a recent US$20 million senior debt financing commitment to assist in the creation of a US$65 million financing vehicle that will ultimately provide energy access to approximately 1.2 million people in rural Kenya. The transaction closed on 5 June.
The innovative off-balance-sheet financing vehicle, Brighter Life Kenya 1 Limited (BLK1), is the result of a joint effort between Solar Frontier Capital Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of African Frontier Capital, and d.Light Design Inc., a leading provider of solar energy products. BLK1 will provide funding to purchase accounts receivables of Pay-As-You-Go solar home systems from d.light’s Kenyan subsidiary, providing the company with working capital to finance its continued growth.
The project serves as the first large-scale demonstration of the feasibility of receivables-purchase financing for off-grid solar home systems.
The Hogan Lovells team was led by partner Ricardo S. Martínez in New York and Andrew Taylor in London. The team included senior associate Andrew Ceppos and associates Christopher Bonilla, Lina Perez and Oliver Travers. Local counsel was provided by Bedell Cristin in Jersey and Anjarwalla & Khanna in Kenya.
Allen & Overy served as outside counsel to Solar Frontier Capital and African Frontier Capital as the borrower, and Norton Rose Fulbright advised d.Light as the seller of receivables.