– As investor Actis prepares exit
Yaounde — Cameroon’s power utility Eneo is working to restructure debts and dealing with a liquidity problem, the CEO said on Thursday as it confirmed its major shareholder, investment fund Actis, planned to sell its stake to the government.
British private equity firm Actis, which has been bought by New York-based private equity firm General Atlantic, pending regulatory approval, has a 51% stake in the company, while Cameroon’s government owns 44%.
Eneo’s CEO Amine Homman Ludiye said that besides 150 billion CFA francs ($247.02 million) owed to financial institutions, the power distributor was indebted to independent producers by up to 360 billion CFA francs.
“We have engaged in a process of restructuring our debts with our creditors,” Ludiye said.
He also said an unconsolidated amount of 266 billion CFA francs in unpaid bills as of last December had still not been cleared by the government and state-owned enterprises, making it difficult for the company to pay its service providers in the sector and make new investments.
Ludiye said Eneo has a supply deficit of 150 megawatts of electricity following a drop in the water level of different hydroelectric power plants, which resulted in power cuts in the main cities of Douala and Yaounde.
“The situation is likely going to continue until the end of March,” he said, adding that the company was unable to turn to alternative sources for want of liquidity.
Actis and Cameroon’s government are discussing the sale of the fund’s stake to the central African country.
This week, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze told reporters that the government was finalising its offer.
“The deal could be completed by the end of the year. But the ongoing changes have no impact so far on the operations of Eneo,” Ludiye said.
Eneo produces about 70% of the energy it distributes and depends on independent producers for the rest in a market where demand stands at nearly 1,000 megawatts.
According to the power distributor, a lack of transport and distribution infrastructure seriously hamper service delivery.
($1 = 607.2500 CFA francs)
*Amindeh Blaise Atabong, editing: Anait Miridzhanian & Alison Williams – Reuters
