A team from Bedell Cristin in Jersey, working with law firm Hogan Lovells, has advised the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank on the Jersey aspects in a US$30 million debt facility that will help increase access to renewable energy in Tanzania.
The borrower, Brighter Life Tanzania 1 Ltd (BLT1), is a special purpose vehicle established to purchase receivables for solar home systems originated by d.light Limited in Tanzania. BLT1 was set up by Solar Frontier Capital Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of African Frontier Capital, and in consultation with d.light Design Inc., a leading provider of solar energy products.
Financing under the debt facility will help provide d.light Limited with the ability to purchase up to US$125 million of receivable assets and grow its Pay-Go personal finance service, which allows low-income households to purchase the company’s affordable, solar-powered home products. This expansion will be especially useful for meeting the demand for off-grid solar products needed in the most vulnerable communities in the country.
Nick Imudia, CEO of d.light said: “This new financing from TDB gives us the extra funding to reach more low-income families andhouseholds in Tanzania via our Pay-Go business, in a way that is affordable for our customers and sustainable for our business.
“As a scalable method of financing, securitisation is an important fiscal tool to help African countries achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for energy access. Expect further expansion of this facility by d.light into other major sub-Saharan African markets during 2023.”
According to the CEO of TDB, Michael Awori, d.light reached nearly 1.7 million people with the Pay-Go model in 2022. The company also created over 2,000 jobs and averted 1.3 million tons of carbon emissions in the process through its use of solar energy.
The Bedell Cristin team was led by Partner Alasdair Hunter (pictured) who was supported by Senior Associate Malcolm Ellis.
