AFD and Chase Bank Sign 10m Euro Credit Line for Green Energy Projects

Chase Bank Kenya and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) today signed a credit line valued at 10 Million Euros (Ksh 1.12 Billion) to finance Green Energy Projects in Kenya.

The deal was signed by Chase Bank Chief Executive Officer, Mr Paul Njaga and AFD’s Director East Africa Regional Office Mr Boudot Yves, and witnessed by the French Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Rémi Maréchaux.

Chase Bank will use the credit facility for onward lending to businesses that wish to invest in renewable energy technologies projects such as small hydro, biomass, biogas, solar, and geothermal, as well as energy efficiency measures.

The credit line also comes with a technical assistance program that will be managed by Kenya Association of Manufacturers. This will help the bank improve their knowledge on lending to and involvement in sustainable energy projects. In addition, Kenya Association of Manufactures will assist the projects sponsors on feasibility studies and technical support.

“This technical and financial offer is therefore particularly important to bring additional solutions to achieve the diversification of energy resources in the East African region and help the region to transition towards sustainable energy solutions that are technically, economically and financially viable,” Mr. Boudot said.

Mr. Njaga said the funds would be available at concessionary rates to eligible customers investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects through all Chase Bank branches.

“This is a 12 Year facility and will therefore address long term funding requirements of energy projects. The total committed amount is EUR 30 Million, of which EUR10 Million will be available immediately for lending,” Mr. Njaga said.

France, through AFD, is a key partner of Kenya in the energy sector and intervenes in all sub-sectors, i.e., generation, transmission, distribution and demand-side management. This additional programme increases the commitment by the Government of France in the energy sector to 670 MEUR and supports the Vision 2030 and Kenyan public policy without burdening the Government of Kenya, with additional debt.

The Group AFD, through PROPARCO is already an important partner of Chase Bank. In 2013, PROPARCO extended a 40 Million USD credit line to Chase Bank Kenya to strengthen its long-term resources and to support the sustainability of its organic growth, with a focus on the SME consumer segment.

Moreover, Amethis Finance, a French private financial company specializing in long-term responsible financing in Africa, is an equity investor in Chase Bank having injected 10.5 Million USD with a sitting board representative Laurent Demmy. In 2015, Amethis Finance increased its capital investment in Chase Bank with an additional EUR 1.6m as part of its commitment and support one of the most innovative and rapidly growing Kenyan banks.

Chase Bank Kenya on the other hand is one of the fastest growing banks in Kenya. With a network of over 50 branches, Chase Bank has a very dynamic market positioning including its historical performance, both in terms of collecting deposits for granting loans exceeding the local banking industry performance without altering the quality of the assets that remain fundamentally sound.

For the year 2015, Chase Bank Kenya has already onward lent about 20 billion Kenya Shillings to SMEs, most of which have been through concessional lending or collateral-free loans.

The AFD credit line that will be signed today for the phase 2 of the programme is the first in a series of relationship with five Kenyan banks. AFD will also develop this financial scheme in Tanzania and Uganda.