adminNairobi. – Kenya Power Ltd, the country’s sole electricity distributor, is considering selling Eurobonds to help fund its expansion plans and reduce its exposure to the domestic currency, acting managing director Mr Ben Chumo said. The company, based in Nairobi, plans to start the process of obtaining a credit rating after its annual shareholder meeting on November 29, Mr Chumo said in an interview last week.
A sale of Eurobonds will probably take place “at the beginning of next year,” he said.
“It will be very limiting for us to focus on local currency. Forex will be the option to take,” he said.
Kenya Power will spend US$700 million by 2017 building electricity substations and transmission lines as the government embarks on a plan to more than quadruple power output in that period. Power generation is set to increase by more than 5 000MW in four years, compared with current capacity of 1 700MW.
Last week, ARM Cement Ltd, the country’s second-biggest cement producer, said it’s considering selling Eurobonds to fund its US$300 million expansion programme. Kenya’s government plans to offer as much as US$2 billion of Eurobonds in January to finance infrastructure programmes in Kenya.
Kenya Electricity Generating Co, the state-controlled power producer, plans to raise US$1,65 billion by selling stock to existing shareholders, which will more than quadruple its number of shares in issue. —Bloomberg.
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