GHANA – Prime Meridian Docks (PMD) Assetco, a Ghanaian ship repair company, has secured an extended US$94 million in senior debt funding from a consortium led by the African Development Bank for the construction and operation of a floating dock ship repair facility in Ghana’s western Takoradi port.
Other consortium members are the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), and Petra Pension Schemes.
Prime Meridian Docks (PMD) is a Ghanaian ship repair company with Free Zones Service Enterprise status and a 25-year concession from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
“The strategic location of this facility will provide shipowners whose vessels trade within the Gulf of Guinea with world-class repair and maintenance services,” Kanayo Awani, executive vice president, of Intra-African Trade and Export Development Bank, Afreximbank said.
“As the mandated lead arranger, we are confident that Shiprite will enhance intra-African trade and foster regional economic growth and integration.
“By providing services that would have otherwise been lost to foreign shipyard repair facilities, the interventions of Prime Meridian Docks will retain much-needed foreign currency within the continent.”
With this milestone, the project, nicknamed ‘Shiprite’, has secured the total commitment of all providers for the required US$137 million in the capital.
When completed, the facility will house a new 13,500-tonne lift-capacity floating drydock, 30,000 square meters of reclaimed land, a 200-meter jetty, a modern workshop, offices, and heavy marine equipment.
“The participation of the Petra Pension Schemes in Project Shiprite represents a pioneering move by these pension funds into project finance and infrastructure fund investments,” Chris Hammond, chairman of the boards of the Petra Advantage and Petra Opportunity Pension Schemes, said.
“This initiative supports the broader diversification agenda of the schemes and the wider local pensions industry.”
Jobalo Oshikanlu, deputy CEO of the ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund, PMD’s equity partner remarked, “We are proud to reach this milestone, having worked through the years with yet another resilient African sponsor in overcoming the bankability challenges in what promises to be a game-changing piece of infrastructure in the region.”
Stanley Raja Korshie Ahorlu, the project’s Lead Sponsor, affirmed, “PMD Assetco is poised to commence the construction of both the civil works and the floating dock and looks forward to entering the market timeously to support shipowners in the region as international shipping works towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
In 2023, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank approved a us$23.04 million loan to Prime Meridian Docks AssetCo Ltd (PMD), a special purpose entity to co-finance the construction of a floating dock ship repair facility
The loan was to support the company in designing, building, operating, and maintaining in a world-class ship repair and maintenance facility in the Gulf of Guinea under a 25-year concession granted to the company by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
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